COMMISSION ROYALE SUR ROYAL COMMISSION ON LES PEUPLES AUTOCHTONES ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
LOCATION/ENDROIT: AKWESASNE MOHAWK SCHOOL CORNWALL ISLAND, ONTARIO
DATE: MONDAY, MAY 3, 1993
VOLUME: 1
"for the record..." STENOTRAN 1376 Kilborn Ave. Ottawa 521-0703 i
TABLE OF CONTENTS Akwesasne Mohawk School Cornwall Island, Ontario
May 3, 1993
NAME PAGE
Opening Prayer 2
Introduction of the Iroquois Confederacy 5 by Grand Chief Mike Mitchell
Iroquois Confederacy: Wampum Belt Reading 69 by Oren Lyons
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1 2 Akwesasne, Cornwall Island, Ontario 3 --- Upon commencing at 9:40 a.m. on Monday, 4 May 3, 1993 5 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: Today is a
6 wonderful day for Kanienkahaka and people of Akwesasne. 7 We are so honoured today, Mohawks of Akwesasne, to welcome 8 such distinguished guests. 9 We have the inquiry that is here in the 10 area, the Royal Commission. I will introduce the people 11 to my right very shortly.
12 As you see, the Wampum Belts are here. 13 That's probably the greatest honour we've had in this 14 school and our nation, to have them read before the Royal 15 Commission. We have a very distinguished guest here to 16 read them, Jake Thomas, who was a professor at Trent 17 University for quite a while. He did us a lot of good. 18 Our people were promoted and promoted, our cause was 19 promoted through the teachings of Jake Thomas.
20 We have many other distinguished guests 21 here. We also have a representative of Kahnawake here, 22 Billy Two Rivers, that you know, and our own Head Chief, 23 Mike Mitchell, who will be giving the opening in a little
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1 while. 2 Jake Thomas, who is now on the Board of 3 Governors for McMaster University. He is retired from 4 Trent. He comes with an extensive background on Native
5 studies. He also needs no introduction as far as (Native
6 language). This is a great day for Kanyagahaga (PH) in 7 this room. 8 I will be introducing the people on my 9 right. I'll have to read, because their credentials are 10 extensive, and they're really, really impressive. 11 Like all activities that we have, like
12 (Native language), we have Ernie Benedict here, who will 13 introduce a youth that he knows will be able to say with 14 distinction our prayer. (Native language). 15 ERNIE BENEDICT: The opening will be
16 given by (Native language). 17 (Opening prayer) 18 ERNIE BENEDICT: My young friend
19 (Native language) has asked us all to give thanks first 20 for our Mother Earth, and has invited all of us to unite 21 our minds together to give thanks to our Mother Earth. 22 Then he asked that we all remember that 23 there waters on the earth that quench our thirst, and he
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1 invited us all to give thanks for the waters that quench 2 our thirst. 3 Then there are the grasses that grow upon 4 the Earth, and he has asked us to reunite our minds together
5 to give thanks for the grasses upon the Earth.
6 There are also the foods that have grown, 7 (Native language), those that have been planted. Those 8 are the foods that support our bodies, and he has asked 9 us to unite our minds to give thanks for the foods upon 10 the Earth. 11 Then there are the animal creatures.
12 He has asked us to reunite our minds together as one to 13 give thanks for the animal creatures. Also, for the great 14 forests in which those animals we live we give thanks for 15 the forest. 16 We also give thanks for the birds that 17 fly over our heads. He also has asked us to bring our 18 minds together as one to give thanks for the birds over
19 our heads. 20 Also, there is the great day sun who is 21 shining upon us now, and he has asked us to give thanks 22 for the day sun. 23 Also, there is the night that has the
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1 moon and who is our grandmother, and he has asked us to 2 unite our minds together to be thankful for our Mother 3 the Moon. 4 Then he has asked us also to give thanks
5 for the stars and also upon the Earth. He said that there
6 are four spiritual beings that guide us every day, help 7 us, and he has asked us to give thanks for them. 8 Then there is the thunderers that have 9 visited us very recently, and he has asked us to give thanks 10 for the thunderers, for they bring the rain. 11 Then he has asked us all to unite our
12 minds together, especially for the Creator of all things, 13 for he has caused all these things to be. When we unite 14 our minds together to give thanks to the Creator, then 15 the meeting may officially be opened. 16 Donnato (PH). I thank you. 17 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: We'll take a
18 few minutes to allow the classes that are returning to
19 go back, then we'll continue. (Native language). Thank 20 you. 21 --- (A short pause) 22 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: We'd like to
23 go on at this time. I am very honoured to be here for
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1 this unbelievable occasion. 2 I have seen so many changes, and I would 3 especially like to see more changes come for our people 4 as a result of the Royal Commission. I especially hope
5 that their recommendations are taken by -- it would be
6 a tragic loss to have these people go through all this 7 legwork and have their recommendations not listened to, 8 and life would go on as it's always gone. 9 It is our hope that you can find words 10 in your heart to tell the people that are capable of making 11 changes for us to be able to go on and make better. There
12 are some things that will never heal -- some things will 13 not change as much -- but to make some change that will 14 be positive. 15 At this time I'm honoured to turn over 16 the mike to the Grand Chief, Mike Mitchell, who should 17 have been here right along in the first place. 18 I give you Mike at this time. 19 GRAND CHIEF MIKE MITCHELL: Walla (PH).
20 I would like to welcome the Commission 21 Members to Akwesasne, and all our other brothers and 22 sisters from other communities. 23 When we all heard about the format and
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1 the purpose and the objectives of the Royal Commission, 2 we wanted to have the opportunity to have our Elders and 3 our Leaders from the traditional communities come forward. 4 If this is to be an education exercise
5 that's going both ways, then it's not your laws and your
6 ways that we can try to get educated on, how we don't fit 7 or cannot cope with your laws. 8 We would like to have the opportunity 9 where we can tell you of our laws, what self-government 10 was like before the arrival of the European, how did the 11 people function. We would like to tell you about the
12 Haudenosaunee. 13 It is not my place to be here as the 14 elected leader of Akwesasne and say this is what we want 15 to show you, or share with you, with the Indian Act and 16 the Constitution, and Canadian laws in general. 17 I grew up as a traditional person, and 18 I know that at this time it is very important that we come
19 forward and stress our traditional law, our traditional 20 history, to share with the people who have influence, who 21 are able to make the kind of recommendations that maybe 22 once again people can understand, the type of 23 self-government and the type of laws, the type of society
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1 that our people lived in, and how it came to us. 2 We have brought Wampum Belts to read 3 today, and I would like to tell you that these are replicas 4 of the originals. The Belts that remain in Six Nations,
5 in Grand River, and in Onondaga near Syracuse, New York.
6 Some of the Wampum Belts are over 1,000 years and are 7 very fragile. They are brought out for ceremonies and 8 for readings for our people. 9 So they give us an opportunity to bring 10 something that we can touch, that you can handle, that 11 we can look at, that we can lift, and it would serve the
12 same purpose. 13 I would like to introduce the next 14 speaker from Grand River Territory, a condoled chief of 15 the Cayuga Nation. I know when you have what you call 16 simultaneous translation I always thought that was a big 17 deal, to be able to speak in English and somebody over 18 there translates to French right away, so who speak that
19 language can almost immediately understand. 20 We were always impressed until we 21 figured out that some of our Elders, some of them can speak 22 three, maybe five different languages, Aboriginal 23 languages. This is the case with Jake Thomas.
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1 He has a tremendous story that we all 2 grew up with in the Longhouse listening to how the 3 Peacemaker came to the Iroquois Haudenosaunee a message 4 of hope, of a way of life, of governance, of a healing
5 of a society. I'll say right away that in Akwesasne it
6 is no secret that we are going through, or trying to go 7 through, a healing. For many of us we can never hear this 8 story enough, and we would like to share that with you. 9 The founding of the Confederacy -- Jake 10 Thomas. 11 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: Just before
12 Jake Thomas comes on, I would like to introduce the panel. 13 The selection of the Commission was done 14 very carefully, and I understand that there really hasn't 15 been much turnover in the members. 16 To my immediate right is a lady from the 17 Micmac Nation, Viola Robinson. She comes from Nova 18 Scotia, the Maritime Provinces. She entered native
19 politics in 1975. She was elected vice-president of the 20 Non-Status and Metis Association of Nova Scotia. The 21 following year she was elected President of the Association 22 and named to the Native Council of Nova Scotia. 23 She has served on boards of many native
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1 organizations in Nova Scotia, including a term as 2 chairperson of the Mikmakik Development Corporation. In 3 1990 she received an honourary Doctorate of Laws Degree 4 from Dalhousie University in Halifax.
5 So she has a lot of background to
6 represent Native people on this panel. We're happy that 7 she is able to stay right to the very end. 8 I'll go immediately to the other end of 9 the table. 10 Mary Sillett was born in Labrador. She 11 comes from Labrador, and has extensive experience in
12 aboriginal affairs. Her work experience includes 13 executive and board positions with several Labrador 14 community and regional organizations. 15 Ms Sillett relocated to Ottawa in the 16 80s and has been a member of the Inuit Community on National 17 Issues. She has completed her formal education, earning 18 a bachelor of Social Work Degree from Memorial University
19 of Newfoundland. 20 We are honoured that she is here with 21 our Mohawk people here today. I am sure that her 22 recommendations will all be done from the heart. 23 I'm saving the best for the Honourable
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1 Bertha Wilson. Here is a lady that is so typical of 2 non-Indian population in Canada, and she is working very 3 hard and has learned tremendous amount about Indian people 4 across the country.
5 What she has learned and what she will
6 become when she gets through dealing with Indian people 7 will be a gem to make recommendations on our behalf, and 8 what she has learned I'm sure is -- her approach to the 9 whole system will be a little bit different when it comes 10 to Indian people. 11 She already comes with a great heart,
12 as she has taken on many of the social causes in the courts. 13 Bertha Wilson was born in Scotland. She 14 was educated at the University of Aberdeen and immigrated 15 to Canada to study at Dalhousie Law School in Halifax. 16 She practised law in Toronto. She was Ontario Court of 17 Appeal judge, and later became a Supreme Court judge. 18 We have a lady that had this type of
19 responsibility and surely in those years has had to deal 20 with Indian people, and not knowing anything about our 21 culture I'm sure was tough on the heart to have to make 22 decisions about people that she didn't know so well, and 23 is working very hard to get to know us, so today she will
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1 get this opportunity. 2 She has done a great deal of humane 3 decisions in her courts, dealing with ethnic and sexual 4 discrimination, child custody, human rights. So she comes
5 with a big heart already. We're honoured that she is here.
6 Next to her -- we all know Georges 7 Erasmus, who was the former President of Assembly of First 8 Nations -- I'd better look at the material here. 9 As you know, Georges has been here quite 10 a few times, and he needs no introduction here. He is 11 of the Dene Nation, and we're honoured he is here, and
12 will be here many times again. 13 So I'll immediately go the Honourable 14 René Dussault. 15 This gentleman is a Justice of the Quebec 16 Court of Appeal. He received his law degree from Laval 17 University and a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. 18 He has been a Legal Advisor to Quebec's Health and Welfare
19 Inquiry Commission and lectured in law at Laval University. 20 He has served as Special Advisor to the 21 Minister of Social Affairs in Quebec and as President of 22 Quebec's professional board and as Quebec's Deputy 23 Minister of Justice. He held the Laskin Chair in Public
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1 Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He taught at 2 the Quebec National School of Public Administration, 3 practised law and has been author and co-author of several 4 books on administrative law.
5 In June 1992 he was awarded an honorary
6 Doctorate of Laws degree from York University. 7 Here is a gentleman also who is trying 8 to learn more about our people and what our problems are. 9 I understand that in the inquiry they 10 want to hear what the problem is, and they would like to 11 know what you think the answer is. It's not enough for
12 you to come to the microphone and list a whole litany of 13 problems and things that are not right or haven't been 14 right or have been wrong because we think it's wrong, but 15 to be able to pull out what is wrong, with a solution. 16 A solution is what they want, what you think is a solution. 17 Don't give us a problem if you don't have a solution. 18 This is the thing. We have people
19 scheduled who will make presentations tomorrow. Like I 20 said, I'm still extremely honoured to have this panel here 21 look into our inner pain and problems over the years. 22 If they can do a little bit, they've done a lot. 23 Thank you.
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1 I turn this over to Jake Thomas, who I'm 2 very proud to -- Lodonayseeo (PH) is his clan. You see 3 the bird up there? That's the symbol. It's not the bird, 4 it's the symbol of his clan.
5 I'm honoured to introduce Lodonayseeo,
6 Jake Thomas. 7 JAKE THOMAS: (Native language).
8 Thanks for all the good words. I always 9 love that when people boast about me, but I don't like 10 to boast myself. Maybe some day I'll be boasting, saying 11 I can do this and I can do that, and people may want me
12 to do it, and there I'd be caught and I couldn't do it, 13 and I could not answer the question. 14 I don't say also to be an expert because 15 in our culture as Native people called Onkwehonweh we do 16 not have experts and we do not have professors either. 17 Of course that was the way -- when we poked the White Man's 18 way then we gained a title, to be professor. Many people
19 call me professor, but I'm not a professor. I'm just 20 knowledgeable of my own culture, which I should be -- which 21 everyone should be, every native person should be. 22 Just like the way it was when I grew up, 23 maybe even before that, there were knowledgeable people,
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1 and all the knowledgeable people in those days always 2 helped one another. That is the reason they call "to help 3 one another" is because we are all going to suffer if we 4 don't help one another, advice or anything like that.
5 Also, it's the responsibility and the
6 Hongwayhoway is knowledgeable. If there are chiefs, the 7 so-called chiefs, we call it Rudianesso (PH). 8 We gave one example of translation, how 9 we translate and interpret that word of Oyanay (PH). 10 Non-natives call us chiefs, but it's really not the right 11 translation, because you have a lot of chiefs running
12 around all over, fire chiefs, constables and also Chiefs 13 of Ontario. People get confused about who is the chief, 14 so we call them the hereditary chiefs. We call them 15 Rudianesso, meaning that they practice the good things, 16 and they had to be noble I guess is what I can say, close 17 to be good. That's why we call them Rudianesso. 18 Royanay (PH) is one person, and that
19 Royanay's responsibility is as an advisor to his people 20 as well as his own nation and his own family. But it 21 doesn't work that way today. 22 We are so broken up in families and also 23 nations and clans, and it isn't like the way it was years
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1 ago. Many clans were really a strong unit in a 2 confederacy. 3 We have inter-marriage into another 4 clan, because we're not supposed to marry within our own
5 clan, no matter what nation. That is the reason, because
6 when you inter-marry in another clan you learn their 7 traditions and also that tradition is kept, or any history, 8 or any stories, or anything pertaining to their knowledge 9 is passed on to the younger generation and also to the 10 clan from your father's side as well as on your own mother's 11 side because we call that matrilineal bloodline in your
12 mother's side. That's what we follow, that's our 13 identity. 14 We also have on the father's side, on 15 the paternal, we don't follow the paternal. It's our 16 native way. We follow the women. That's why I always 17 follow the women around. 18 Getting down to what I was supposed to
19 do, it's very hard for me to speak in English because I 20 never learned really, I'm still learning how to speak 21 English, because my first language, I call it first 22 language, it's my own nation, Cayuga, which I learned when 23 I was a kid, as well as on my father's side I learned the
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1 Onondaga. So I learned two as I was growing up, as well 2 as Mohawk. My grandmother spoke Mohawk and my dad spoke 3 Mohawk, so I already gained three languages as I was growing 4 up.
5 Then we had friends who would come to
6 the house and they would speak Seneca, and stay for a while 7 -- they didn't just stay for one hour. When they visit, 8 they really visit, maybe for a month. But now we don't 9 that. That's the reason why knowledge was never lost, 10 because they communicated between one another when they 11 had time. There was no television in them days.
12 That is how I learned the different 13 languages, Seneca and also learned Oneida, because Oneida 14 and other languages are very similar languages, Mohawk, 15 they're very similar, and also the Cayuga and the Seneca 16 are very similar. So it's not a hard thing to learn. 17 If you learn Mohawk you should be able to understand all 18 languages, if you only really watch.
19 As I say, I'm not really comfortable when 20 I use English because at least -- I can say this much, 21 that English does not have any translation, I don't care 22 what languages, I've been told, even Ojibway, Cree. They 23 tell me that there's no word that we can use in English
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1 to explain anything in Native language. You can't compare 2 anything. 3 This is where we have a problem, and I 4 think that's why we have a problem with misunderstanding.
5 But one thing I would say, when we teach our children,
6 we teach them the truth. We never ever keep anything back 7 to our people. So they know actually what happened a long 8 time ago, not like the history that we read today, English 9 history or French history, or whatever. 10 Children only learn the good part of the 11 history, but they learn what it was like a way before,
12 and that's what we're going to be talking about, what we 13 call Ganoshonay-gayha (PH), which means, I guess you would 14 say the Longhouse way. The people of the Longhouse. 15 When the Peacemaker came, He was the one 16 who erected what we call Niganoshoni (PH). So we never 17 ever keep our history back, so that children will learn 18 what it was like at that time because in those days we
19 had warring amongst all nations. At times there will be 20 wars, killings. We never had scalping, but we had killing. 21 We also had cannibalism, cannibals, in 22 them days. That's what I'm talking about. We never ever 23 hide those stories, what happened in those days, so our
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1 children will learn how our people were way, way back. 2 But English history, they never talk about they were like 3 in them days. They probably were cannibals too in the 4 early history. So we're no different. Nobody's perfect.
5 This is what the story is about, how it
6 came about. We always tell that in our story, from the 7 beginning of time of warring amongst nations. We always 8 had problems with what we call young people, as I was told 9 by Elders. We always had problems, right from the 10 beginning of time. 11 It was the young people always making
12 trouble for other nations. There's not much that the older 13 people can do. They tell them, but they can't make them. 14 So then they come back, and that's what started the war. 15 They retreat, and the killing went on for the longest 16 time. 17 Since the time of Creation the 18 population of the Hongwayhoway, the Native people, they
19 were also instructed, that's why we always go back to the 20 time of Creation, we were always instructed from the time 21 where did we come from, and what's our purpose of being 22 here, and how did that tradition come about? We talk about 23 the clan system. That's where it originated, from the time
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1 of the Creation. 2 Our story about the Peacemaker is like 3 a web. It talks about, just like what was put through 4 by this young person. We started talking about the
5 Creation, from that time as we as people here come together
6 we live in this Turtle Island. We are grateful, we are 7 thankful that we're still here. We talk about all of 8 Nature, everything. 9 We always do that because that is 10 important to know what is at the time of Creation. We 11 must never ever forget to be grateful every day. We have
12 to judge ourselves. Native people never judge anybody 13 else. You are only to judge yourself, what you are. Don't 14 judge anybody else. If you find faults with yourself then 15 you shouldn't judge anybody else. 16 This is what was happening at the time 17 the Creator made mankind. He put him on earth to get along. 18 He gave us love. He gave us respect, appreciation,
19 generosity. (Native language). That's the true thing. 20 We are to appreciate and have great respect for one another, 21 because we're all human. 22 That is the way the Creator gave us from 23 the beginning of time, when he put the two people on earth,
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1 the man and the woman, from the time they came to populate 2 this is what will go on, love, caring, sharing with one 3 another. But for the longest time it didn't work. Maybe 4 it worked for a while, but then people begin to forget
5 what they were instructed. (Native language).
6 The Creator, we call him, the Creator 7 for all things. He instructed us this is the way we should 8 be, but we forget. Then we start things that we're not 9 supposed to do on earth, go against one another. That's 10 what was happening. Fighting. Killing one another. And 11 it was not supposed to be.
12 So the time when the Creator was looking 13 down on people, the way He created, He was pretty sad about 14 it, looking at people. There was bloodshed. And the way 15 they describe it, that He saw so much blood flowing, just 16 like rivers and streams, because there was so much killing, 17 he saw there was bloodshed, that blood which he gave us. 18 It was not supposed to be that way.
19 They're cutting off the Creation, the 20 Creator's Creation. When He put mankind in this world 21 He was the one to call him back, but it was not us to destroy 22 one another. As I was told (Native language), which means 23 that is the most sinful thing to do, to kill. It talks
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1 about that in our Great Law in the Condolence Ceremony. 2 There's nothing in the Great Law that 3 doesn't have an explanation. But as I say, when the 4 Creator was watching all the things that were happening
5 on earth, he began to send a messenger, a prophet they
6 sometimes call it. He came here. (Native language). 7 It means this man that was sent, and He was born to what 8 we call a virgin mother. 9 At that time over the Great Lakes, what 10 we call (Native language), Lake Ontario, on the north side 11 was the villages in those days, as they call the Huron
12 Village. But now it's called Tyendinaga. Now is where 13 our history begins, the Creator's sacred place for our 14 own people. And that is where our history was born, or 15 sometimes they call it the Bay of Quinte, or Desoronto. 16 There were villages at that time, Huron 17 villages. And that is where this big village, there was 18 warring, all nations killing. This old lady and her
19 daughter, she didn't like the idea of what was going on. 20 So they moved away and they settled somewhere, now called 21 Tyendinaga. That is where they settled. She made a 22 shelter for her daughter, where nobody travels about. 23 And that is where as a young girl she was hiding under
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1 the husk, that's what we call it. She was a virgin. 2 A certain time came when that girl comes 3 into her womanhood. And that was a time that something 4 had happened. The grandmother noticed that her daughter
5 was pregnant and wondered how could she be pregnant when
6 there's no man around. 7 She kept asking her daughter "how did 8 this come about?", and she said "I don't know". He mother 9 began to suspect maybe she's trying to tell her a lie, 10 she wasn't telling the truth. 11 It went on for days, as the girl became
12 larger and larger. So the next time she asked her again. 13 She said, "I want you to tell me the truth", so she asked 14 her again and the girl said "I still don't know". She 15 cried. It seemed like now the mother was beginning to 16 disown her daughter, because she thought she wasn't telling 17 her the truth. 18 The time came when the boy was born.
19 She thought about how she would get rid of that child, 20 because she doesn't know how it came about, and she didn't 21 anybody else to know if the word ever got around about 22 the strange thing that happened to her daughter. 23 When the boy was born he was born what
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1 we call a fatherless child, and that fatherless child, 2 from the time he was a baby she tried to get rid of him. 3 The first thing was -- at that time they said the river 4 was frozen with ice.
5 She began to make a little hole in the
6 ice. Then she took the baby and she put him in the water. 7 (Native language). When she put the baby in and she saw 8 that the current water took his body away she says "I'll 9 never see it again". 10 She went back where they live. In the 11 distance away coming she heard the baby crying the
12 direction she was going. She came back to the house, and 13 that is where she saw her grandchild laying by his mother. 14 She was so surprised that it never ever happened that 15 way before. She never heard of -- 16 So the next time what she was going to 17 do, she made up her mind, she's going to make another hole 18 in the ground and bury him alive. So the next morning
19 she began to make preparations. She went after the baby 20 in the morning, then she buried alive. 21 After she finished she went back. The 22 same thing happened again. She got back to the house and 23 here is her grandson laying by his mother. And now she
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1 got more confused, wondering what was happening. 2 Now the tradition is, this is part of 3 our tradition, you have to do things three times. Never 4 only do it two; three times and you'll be successful.
5 This time now she still was not satisfied
6 what had happened. The next morning, the third morning, 7 she gathered a lot of wood in the woods and she thought 8 she would make a big fire. So she started the fire not 9 too far from where they lived, and she went after the baby, 10 her grandson. 11 Then they came back, and she threw him
12 in the fire. She stood there and watched the baby. It 13 seemed like it disappeared in the fire. She thought "I 14 finished what I am supposed to do. I'll never see him 15 again. I've never, ever heard in my lifetime anybody who 16 survived in a fire." So she went back. 17 When she arrived at home again, here was 18 the baby laying by his mother. Now, she said, I've done
19 everything. I don't know what to do now, because I tried 20 everything. He must have power, more power, maybe not 21 just a common, ordinary boy. So he already proved to her 22 that he had power. 23 So that night came and she had a visitor.
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1 A man came to the house. He knocked at the door, and 2 she told him to come in. So he came in. He said, "the 3 reason why I stopped over here was to let you know what 4 you have done. I know all about it. You tried to get
5 rid of your grandson three times. And he survived every
6 time. And you also tried to disown your daughter because 7 she was telling you the truth when you asked her how did 8 this come about, for her to be pregnant. She was telling 9 you the truth." 10 He said, "so I want you to make up with 11 your daughter, because it's not your duty to disown your
12 daughter. That's the reason why I stopped over, to tell 13 you, but you'll never ever get rid of that child, because 14 he has power. He was sent by the Creator. He is a 15 prophet." (Native language). That mean the Creator was 16 sent and given that kind of power. 17 So, he said, all you can do is give him 18 all kinds of loving, caring, to make him grow.
19 So she began to make up with her 20 daughter. The next morning she told the story of what 21 this man told her. At the same time he said "that boy 22 will have a name. Nobody else will use that name any more. 23 That name will be powerful. His name will be Denonawida.
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1 That's what you will call him. When he finishes his 2 mission in this world, his name shall never be used, or 3 even be mentioned just every day, just like our name. 4 It should not be mentioned. The only time it will be
5 mentioned is any time when the Great Law is recited, or
6 Condolence Ceremony. It's a very sacred name." 7 After she told her daughter what they 8 must do, and she also made up with her daughter that she 9 disowned her, everything went well from there on. 10 Around that time when the boy was looked 11 after, well brought up, and he grew very rapidly. It seems
12 like in only a few days he was already a big boy, because 13 he was sent for a certain purpose. 14 He began to talk about things and his 15 grandmother wondered how come -- she never, ever heard 16 things that he was talking about. He talks about -- as 17 a little boy he says "is there other people living somewhere 18 like us?", and the grandmother says "yes, actually we came
19 from the original village, the Huron village, and that 20 is where we are from originally. But we are here because 21 there was warring. My people are warring. There's war 22 going on, killing, and also cannibalism. Cannibalism was 23 practised. Witchcraft."
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1 So Degonawida says: I would like to 2 speak to those people. I have a message to tell them. 3 So the grandmother says: In a few days we will go on a 4 journey back to where we came from. So she went back.
5 Now is the time, then, she was welcomed
6 back by the chief of that village. At that time they had 7 what we call war chiefs and his assistant. He was the 8 one who gave all the instructions. If there were to be 9 war, he was the one that said so, and also his assistant. 10 The grandmother told everything what 11 happened, told the story about how her daughter became
12 pregnant, told everything. And the chief himself said 13 "that's very interesting. I'd like to call on the people 14 of the village, and we should assemble. Everybody should 15 know and hear about this great news." 16 Then he called all the people to 17 assemble. When they came, and that was the time that the 18 grandmother related her message to the people of what had
19 happened, everybody was so shocked on what they heard. 20 (Native language). It was a great, important message that 21 they had heard. 22 So at that time, then, when they all 23 heard, then that Great War Chief and his assistant and
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1 also the people suggested maybe they should also ask the 2 boy what he has to say. So they let him speak. And that's 3 what he told them at the assembly, "I'm here. I bring 4 three things for you people. I bring peace, power, and
5 righteousness." So people began to wonder what is peace,
6 power, and righteousness, because they don't know what 7 it is. They don't know the meaning of it, because it never 8 existed. 9 So the elders, the war chief, all the 10 young warriors, they began to listen to what he had to 11 say. And they also questioned what all the three things
12 mean. He began to explain, and this is what he said: 13 "Now that I am here with you, I will describe, it's like 14 now, the sun is coming up now. As it gets brighter and 15 brighter every day, when you will hear all this message 16 then your mind will get brighter and brighter", because 17 they didn't know anything about anything. The way they 18 were practising, it was all evil.
19 He said: "All the past will be 20 forgotten. This is a new day. It's going to be a new 21 day now. And that sun is just about rising. When that 22 sun rises and it's going to take shape, and I guess that's 23 what they call that our people will get civilized."
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1 So Native people already had 2 civilization. They were civilized before Europeans came 3 here. According to the way they were taught in school, 4 that European civilized Native people, that is not so.
5 We already had that, because that is who civilized us,
6 Degonawida, the Peacemaker, who brought all those things, 7 how we are supposed to -- What it meant was peace to have 8 in our mind, in your heart. No matter where you go, you'll 9 be peaceful with everybody. There's no danger, no fear, 10 of going anywhere. 11 Also that peace of mind, a good mind,
12 will work, and everybody will carry that. And that is where 13 the power will come from, the power of the good mind. 14 Everybody will carry that good power of mind. Also 15 friendship. You love yourself and you love other people 16 just as much as you love yourself. 17 That peace is supposed to work. So 18 Gonigolio (PH), that's what they call it, peace. (Native
19 language), good mind, and also peace. It worked together. 20 (Native language), meaning power. Now today young people 21 think power is something -- they think that this is the 22 power. It's not. It's the power of the words of the 23 Creator where it came from, of unity, having that same
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1 mind, a good mind and peace. That's what makes power. 2 We have righteousness and (Native 3 language), which means that everybody will be happy, and 4 that's why I said that is one of Native values, respect,
5 to respect one another, appreciate one another, sharing,
6 love one another, care for one another. That is the 7 biggest part of it. That was what he related, that message 8 that explained what those three things meant. 9 From that time, when they all heard the 10 Great War Chief, he stood up and said: The greatest things 11 that I heard today, now I change my way. You call me a
12 war chief. I'll never be a war chief, because there's 13 no more war. That's what the purpose also was. The 14 Peacemaker wants to stop that warring and bloodshed. That's 15 why the Great War Chief gave it up, because there's no 16 more war chief, and no more warriors. 17 Warring will be replaced by what we call 18 love, caring, respect, and also generosity, be generous
19 to one another. That is the role of the younger people, 20 to be generous to one another. That's why in the olden 21 days we had what we call mutual aid, or sometimes they 22 call it "be" (PH). 23 All the young men got together. If
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1 there was somebody sick, maybe they have no wood or 2 whatever, even had to build Longhouses, all the young men 3 went over there because they had a lot of power, a lot 4 of energy. They have a lot of energy to burn. That is
5 where their energy will go, to help one another, but to
6 go against one another. That was the purpose of Degonawida 7 when he came. 8 So now it's true what he said, that's 9 day one. Now the sun is beginning to come up, because all 10 the people in the assembly now accepted the great message 11 of peace.
12 So from that time on -- it's really a 13 long story. If I told that we'd be sitting here maybe 14 three days. But just to sort of highlight -- 15 To go on, a the boy and his grandmother 16 went back to the village where they came from, that is 17 where he left. He told his grandmother that now he's going 18 to go on a mission, the same as what he has talked about.
19 He says there are people living, (Native language). That 20 means that there are people living, other people, Native 21 people, that he has to talk to, pass on the message. 22 So that is the time, then, all the time 23 when he was a boy, he built himself a canoe, what they
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1 call a stone canoe, and that is another one again that 2 he proved to his grandmother and his mother. He took them 3 to where he made the canoe. Right away the grandmother 4 thought "how is that going to float?". She was really
5 eager to see it, because she had never ever heard anything
6 like that. 7 It's always been like whatever he's 8 doing, it seems like it makes for wonder. But he has to 9 prove that he does have the power. 10 When they saw that they both thought, 11 his mother and his grandmother, how is it going to float?
12 It's just like talking to him. He already knew what they 13 were thinking. He said, "I know what you're thinking. 14 That's why I brought you here. If that boat that I made, 15 that canoe, if it sinks, then that means that my work is 16 not going to work. But I've been sent on a mission. I 17 may go with it. I may perish. I may drown. But to prove 18 to you, that's why I brought you here."
19 So the day came for their departure. 20 They saw him leave. He had a paddle, a stone paddle, and 21 every time he'd take a stroke it seemed like it went so 22 fast, in a very short time he was out of sight. Then they 23 went home. The mother and the grandmother went home.
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1 It's a long story which she put together, 2 and she went back again to the village. Now they went 3 back, because there's no fear any more, no warring, so 4 that's why they went back to their own village, to live.
5 They also related all the message of what had happened,
6 what they saw again. 7 At that time when she related the message 8 to all the people and also to the head man -- he's not 9 a war chief any more, but he also was a head man. He's 10 changed his title because of the Peacemaker. So he was 11 the head man, and that's what they call (Native language).
12 It means he's not a war chief any more, he doesn't fight 13 any more, doesn't give any orders about wars, but he's 14 now just a leader, a common leader for his people. 15 So they went back and relayed the 16 message. They all assembled again and he told the 17 assembly, "there's a great story of what happened. All 18 the people assembled here, it's our responsibility as old
19 people to pass it on to our younger generation." (Native 20 language) It's up to us to pass our knowledge to the 21 younger people. It's a very important thing, what had 22 happened, the birth of who they call Degonawida, the 23 Peacemaker.
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1 Then he went on from there, after they 2 departed. That is where he first came to the cannibal 3 and also to the woman called Jaykonses. He met her too. 4 He also met this man that came from Kanien'kehaka, People
5 of the Flint Nation. That was also the reason why he met
6 him there on the north shore of Lake Ontario, where he 7 met this man. His family and his wife also ran away from 8 Mohawk Kanien-kehaka, because there was a lot of warring 9 going on too. That's why he asked him, when he met him, 10 "what's your purpose of being here?" 11 He said, "my family over here lived.
12 I just want to save my family so they won't get killed, 13 or my children should not learn anything about killing. 14 I don't like what's going on. There's always a fear of 15 getting killed. That's why we ran away from our own home 16 village, Kanien-kehaka. So we live here." 17 Now the Peacemaker says, when he asked 18 him where he came from, this man that was asked where he
19 came from, he said "I came from the west. I am called 20 Degonawida, and I am carrying the good message of peace, 21 doing away with all the wars. Also, all the cannibals. 22 I will do away with that, so that only peace will exist 23 in this world. That's the way the Creator wants it to be,
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1 everybody to get along and live in peace." 2 "What I am going to do, I am going to 3 send you back to Kanien'kehaka. You relay that message. 4 There is a man who's going to come there some day. Relay
5 the message. He's coming. So tell them to be patient about
6 it when he comes." 7 So that was the time it started, this 8 man of the village. He was also notified at that time 9 when this young man that related the message to 10 Kanien'kehaka people. He told the people that this great 11 man was coming from the north to tell the people. So they
12 waited and waited. 13 This man waited all the time, he was 14 awoke all the time. He never hardly sleeps, because he's 15 always waiting, to hear what message he's carrying. 16 (Native language) -- for many nights, many days. (Native 17 language) 18 Before he went to Kanien'kehaka he went
19 to visit these people, the cannibals, and also that woman 20 he relayed the message to. He told them about peace. So 21 that woman accepted it. And he told that woman, he said: 22 "That is your responsibility since you're the first woman 23 who accepted the Great Peace. So I will make you -- it
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1 will follow the women's responsibility. You will be the 2 Mother of all Nations. That's what it means." (Native 3 language). That's where the word comes from. They are 4 the mothers of all nations. That's where it originated.
5 That's why we call it (Native language).
6 All the nations' women are highly 7 regarded in their role, if they only follow their role. 8 But how many women know their role today? The same way 9 with chiefs. And that's very hard to deal with, what I 10 say, Royanay (PH). That means to be good. 11 A chief is supposed to set an example
12 for his own people. The same way with a can mother. Her 13 role is to also set an example of her nation or her family, 14 her clan, that she should be a good, noble person. (Native 15 language). 16 Even a chief's role (Native language). 17 A chief is supposed to be a good person -- doesn't 18 discriminate anybody, advise the people on whatever they
19 want, help any way he can. That is his role. And not 20 supposed to do all the wrong things. (Native language), 21 which means he's not supposed to practice any bad habits. 22 But when I look at the Great Law, what 23 I'm supposed to do as a chief, it's a very boring life
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1 to be a chief. There are so many temptations. We walk 2 out of the house, you're already tempted to do things that 3 you're not supposed to do. Even just to lie, that was 4 not right. But you lost that trust. People don't trust
5 you. That was what it was all about, the Great Law --
6 trust. Trust in one another. 7 Your word stands, what you say and what 8 comes out. You don't have to have a contract and say "hey, 9 this is what you said". You must remember what you said. 10 That's what we call trust. And that's what we follow 11 all the time.
12 At this time, as I say, that's where it 13 came from that women are highly regarded in their role. 14 The women were given to follow that in their matrilineal 15 bloodline. They were the ones to elevate chiefs and also 16 they will have the responsibility to nominate anybody in 17 their own nation, their own family, their own clan. And 18 who is the most knowledgeable?
19 It's not easy to be a chief, because you 20 get all kinds of criticism, accusation. That's all you 21 hear every day, to be a chief. I think many chiefs of 22 all sorts know that, that that's the way it is. You never 23 satisfy people. So that is a hard role, even to be a clan
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1 mother. It's not an easy role either. It's costly, and 2 it's hard to have a good mind, and women are all equal 3 in nations, whether Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, 4 Seneca. Women are all equal. There's no other woman any
5 higher than another woman. That's the way the law is.
6 The same way with chiefs. There is no 7 higher chiefs. They are equal. The position they hold, 8 that's only what makes a difference. But it doesn't mean 9 they have the power, but what power is, is what we call 10 consensus. That is the main thing in our government -- 11 consensus.
12 It starts from the family, nation, clan. 13 You reach consensus from the clan to the other clan. When 14 they all reach that same consensus, say like Mohawks of 15 the three different clans, they reached that same consensus 16 pertaining to their own nation. Whatever problems, they 17 always have consensus. 18 Then it will go to the whole nation.
19 Then it will go to the Confederacy, the Grand Council, 20 all the consensus. That is the way it's supposed to work. 21 But it doesn't work that way any more. 22 We have never walked away from our way 23 of -- that's part of our life, of the Great Law. That
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1 is the role. I could talk more about it, but it doesn't 2 give me enough time. People think you can do it in one 3 hour. You cover a lot of things, but no. 4 I've sat for, you might as well say for
5 50 years, to gain my knowledge, not just one hour. So that's
6 the difference. You cannot relate anything, because they 7 all work together. They're all interesting to know. 8 As I was saying also, He also met the 9 cannibals. When Degonawida was on top the Longhouse 10 looking down, because he knew this man was away. He only 11 understands that this man was away, so he climbed on the
12 roof and he could see this man whenever he comes home, 13 through the smoke hole. 14 Very shortly that man came back, the 15 cannibal. He was carrying a body. A human body. He 16 started cutting the meat up -- must be good steaks, I guess. 17 Good to eat. So he started cooking. 18 When he started cooking for so long he
19 thought, well, I guess it's cooked now. So he began to 20 take the pot off the fire to cool off. He poured it to 21 one side to cool off and he's sitting down. When it got 22 cooled off enough, then he says "I'm going to start to 23 eat".
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1 He went to get some meat to eat, and he 2 looked down the pot. He saw a man's face appear, and that 3 kind of scared him. It never ever happened before. The 4 man was looking at him from the pot. He had a beautiful
5 face according to the way he saw it. (Native language).
6 That's the time then that he thought 7 "what a handsome face I have. I wonder why I'm eating 8 human flesh. If I have such a pretty face, I shouldn't 9 be eating." Now already that good mind begins to come 10 in his mind. That's the power. 11 Degonawida didn't say "you did this, and
12 you did that. You have to give up now, or I'll put you 13 to jail, or I'll threaten you, and I'm going to kill you." 14 He didn't say that. He gave his mind time to work. 15 That's not the way we are today. We 16 changed that. "If you don't do it, I'm going to make you 17 do it." That's not the way with Native people. Nobody 18 makes anybody do -- even the Great Law. Nobody makes
19 anybody do -- another chief can't make me do what I don't 20 want to do. No chief can order me around, and I can't 21 do that with another chief, I don't care where he comes 22 from. That's not what he's for. 23 As I say, everything is a unanimous
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1 decision on what they do. And that's how everything is 2 done. 3 So when he saw this man looking from the 4 pot it got him thinking. Right away that good mind entered
5 his mind "maybe I shouldn't be eating that. I wonder
6 what's gone wrong?" So he sat down again and started 7 wondering what happened to him. It had never happened 8 before. 9 The next time he stood up again, "maybe 10 I'm only seeing things. Maybe it's my eyes." 11 The second time he stood up he looked
12 again. Still his face appeared. Now he said to himself 13 "I'm going to quit eating human flesh". So he picks up 14 the pot, goes down the hill, and where the tree had fallen 15 over there was a little cavern there. He dumps all the 16 meat there and he only brings back the pot that he's going 17 to use. So he comes back. 18 That's the time then the Peacemaker was
19 sitting on top of the roof he'd come down. That's where 20 they met. And he asked him "what did you put down there?". 21 Even though he knew, he asked him "what did you put in 22 there?" He says "I put human flesh in there. That was 23 my meal, but I changed my mind. Now I quit killing people.
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1 I no longer will eat human flesh any more." 2 The Peacemaker says "just mark your 3 word, what you said. Never, ever, forget what you 4 promised. There's a Creator up there. He heard what you
5 said. Don't lie to the Creator, because he's looking at
6 you." 7 So the Peacemaker and the cannibal -- 8 the cannibal says "we'll go back to the house and we'll 9 talk more", and they got back to the house. 10 Then the Peacemaker, Degonawida, says 11 "I'll go hunting. We'll eat together before I leave."
12 So, he says "I'll go hunting and you prepare, get water 13 and start the fire." So the Peacemaker went out to hunt. 14 It just seemed like he just went away, and pretty soon 15 he appeared again with a deer on his back. This cannibal 16 never, ever saw such a good hunter in his life. 17 So he brings back this deer. And that's 18 the time then, when he brought this deer, and he told this
19 cannibal, he says "now we work together. We've got to 20 skin that animal, and we've got to save the deer antlers. 21 We'll put it to one side because we're going to use that 22 some day. That's what we will use to crown the chiefs 23 when we elevate the chiefs. That means a symbol of power."
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1 So he says "that's what we'll do". 2 "The reason we work together is to skin 3 the animal. That's the way it's going to be, because when 4 we elevate the chiefs some day they will always have to
5 work together. That's why we will work together. Besides,
6 this is the kind of animal that the Creator gave you to 7 eat, not human flesh." 8 After they talked about how it's going 9 to come about. At that time the Peacemaker says "we're 10 going to built what we call Gaunashonay (PH). We will 11 build a Longhouse." (Native language). We will try.
12 These are the symbols we're going to use. We're going 13 to use symbols. This Longhouse, we will call it Longhouse 14 one-family, from the east to the west, and all the clans 15 will stay in this Longhouse. They will be bound together. 16 That's what they will call a Longhouse one-family. And 17 the women will be the backbone of (Native language). They 18 will be the ones. (Native language)"
19 It means we will elevate the women. 20 They will be given the right to elevate chiefs as well 21 as also to depose their chiefs. That's the kind of power. 22 They will be the backbone of the Great Law. That's the 23 way it's going to be.
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1 So he left, and he says, "I'm going to 2 leave now". And the cannibal says, "You have to watch 3 yourself as you go. Your life is in danger because you 4 can be killed any time. There's a lot of warriors walking
5 around. A lot of things to take your life. And
6 witchcraft, all kinds of things." 7 And the Peacemaker says, "That's the 8 kind of people I want to see so that the Great Law will 9 work. If I don't clear all that, then the Great Law won't 10 work. I've got to go see an important man, one of the 11 most powerful...", what we call Adodaho (PH).
12 "He sits way up the (Native language). 13 He sits way up high on a hill, he has so much power. 14 But we will also try hard. It's one of the hardest things 15 to do, for him to be persuaded and take hold of the Great 16 Law, of the Good Message." 17 So now he began a path and clear all the 18 bad things, all the evil practices, then he went back.
19 That's the time that he went to Konyonguay. And when he 20 arrived at Konyonguay they were glad for him, and the man 21 that was waiting for him all this time, he was glad to 22 see him. 23 So even when he related the message to
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1 Konyonguay, Konyounguay people did not believe in him. 2 They wanted him to show some proof of what he was talking 3 about, if he did have the power. They didn't seem to trust 4 him.
5 So the war chiefs and all the warriors
6 asked if he would volunteer to sit on the branch of a tree 7 which lies over the falls. And that's what they call the 8 Mohawk River. They used to describe years ago, now today 9 I guess they call it Kohoss (PH) Falls. That is where 10 the big history happened. 11 Where he was tried, he volunteered to
12 do so to prove what he was talking about. And when he 13 did, then the people from there began to accept his message. 14 Then when they did accept the message the war chief also 15 gave up his title. The Peacemaker took away his title. 16 He elevated three chiefs. 17 The first thing, the man who was waiting 18 for many nights waiting for him, he did not sleep. He
19 says, "Since you did not sleep, so your name will be 20 Hiawatha (PH)." That means he never sleeps, he's always 21 awake. 22 And since they were having a divided 23 mind, these two, and one sort of kind of respected it,
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1 but still he didn't really approve what the Peacemaker 2 was talking about. So he says, "I will call you, since 3 you have two minds, when I came you didn't know which one 4 to believe, whether it was false or is it the truth what
5 I'm talking about. So I will call you Degalayhoga (PH).
6 That's what you will carry from here on." 7 "And you, that you kind of respected my 8 message, you will be named Shadekariwateh." 9 So now he elevated three chiefs of the 10 Mohawk Nation. They were the first chiefs to be elevated, 11 and they are made to be what they call the Defenders of
12 the Eastern Door: Degalayhoga, Hiawatha and 13 Shadekariwateh. 14 When they finished off at Onondaga, that 15 is the time they filled in the six other chiefs. 16 Then they went on into Oneida. That was 17 also a long story, what had happened from there. But he 18 elevated the three chiefs also, what we call Nayoutahaga
19 (PH). But the white man was never able to say Nayoutahaga, 20 so he said Oneida. 21 And he elevated three Chiefs (Native 22 language). So that now begins what the Peacemaker said 23 at that time, that the sun is now beginning to rise. That
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1 was the time when the Mohawk Nation were allocated. They 2 began now a new day, and as it went on the power began 3 to work. That's what he meant, power. 4 The Mohawks accepted the Great Peace,
5 and now the power began to work, and that's what he meant
6 by power of mind. Power went to the Oneidas. The Oneidas 7 accepted the Great Peace. Then the power began to grow 8 more and more. 9 One problem they had was that the Seneca 10 country were the western door keepers. The western door, 11 they had war chiefs and they say that this great war chief
12 had the greatest power of all men, he gave all the orders. 13 So they were afraid of him too. That is where they had 14 problems again, for those two to accept that Great Peace. 15 He had his own people of this Great War 16 Chief who supported him. The other people, Skinadario 17 (PH), (Native language) of the Seneca Nation, which the 18 Peacemaker elevated, was the first settlement of the Wahaka
19 (PH). There is still a landmark today. They call it the 20 Big Mountain. That's why we call them the Big Mountain 21 People, or the Big Hill People, called the Seneca. 22 As the other people of the Great Warrior 23 Chief he had his own, and there was not a village from
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1 there to there. Actually we saw that, because I think 2 some people might have visited that place -- I guess it 3 really means "it's a white town" in English. 4 The reason why they call it a white
5 village was because they say in those days there were a
6 lot of flowers that grew just white around that mountain, 7 and that's why they call it the white village. 8 That was when they had a real problem, 9 as I say, to convince the war chief of that time. That 10 was one of the first councils that they ever had, the first 11 time that he said how are the councils supposed to work?
12 That was a test at that time, because it was a very touchy 13 thing that they had to deal with. If they made a mistake, 14 that's what the Peacemaker says, "If we make a mistake, 15 there's going to be another war. The war is going to break 16 out again. We've got to be very careful how we talk to 17 that war chief. 18 So finally they decided that they'll
19 change the title of this war chief as a war chief. And 20 that's what they call (Native language) in Mohawk, the 21 Great War Chief. And (Native language) is his assistant. 22 How are we going to make them accept it? 23 By that time they already now had all the four nations
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1 to hold council. So they did hold council, one of the 2 first councils, told them how to make decisions, and so 3 they did. They all agreed, a unanimous decision, with 4 all nations. And it worked.
5 And they were able to change, so they
6 decided they will change the name of war chief to 7 door-keeper, and that chief thought that was a great thing, 8 to be door-keeper of the western door. He will watch a 9 door that nothing comes in to disturb the people. If 10 anybody came, he is to ask questions, what you come there 11 for. Are you for good, or up to no good? So they were
12 responsible. 13 There were two chiefs that got elevated 14 at that time, called (Native language). It means the door 15 is opened. Those are the two chiefs that always stand 16 watching the door, the door-keepers. So they accepted 17 that title, given that name. They still had the power, 18 but they took away the weapons of war.
19 Every nation that came, and the young 20 people since the nations had done away with wars, so they 21 took away all the weapons of war. That's why when they 22 uprooted the Great Tree of Peace, and that is where they 23 took any weapon. (Native language).
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1 So when they were able to convince them 2 to take that, now they went. The next thing was to convince 3 Adedaho of the Onondaga Nation, because Hiawatha was 4 working with the Onandagas. The reason why he was working
5 with them, according to the Elders, there was a little
6 mix-up about people of the Mohawks and also the Onondagas. 7 Today they don't quite understand, 8 because some say that Hiawatha was an Onondaga, how come 9 he became a Mohawk Chief? It's not really because they're 10 following the paternal side. They used to say that 11 Hiawatha's father was an Onondaga and Hiawatha's mother
12 was Mohawk. So there was nothing wrong with it, because 13 that follows the matrilineal bloodline. (Native 14 language). It does not follow. It's not hereditary 15 through your father. It's through your mother. That's 16 the way the Great Law is laid out for people to follow. 17 What happened at that time but the 18 formation of the League. As I say, it's a long story.
19 But they ended up -- they were able to convince also Odeda 20 (PH). And Jaykonses, that first woman to accept the Great 21 Peace. She was the one that crowned Odadaho as he became 22 the chief. 23 He didn't want to take that (Native
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1 language) either. He liked what he was doing. So again 2 at that time another council was held. Now they were able 3 to convince to take hold of the Great Law of Peace. 4 Odadaho of the Onondaga, when he did
5 accept that peace and they made him to be the keepers --
6 when they're going to make the fire they call the principal 7 fire or the capital fire of the Five Nations, and he will 8 be the one who is going to look after it. 9 Also when they plant the symbolic tree 10 at Onondaga, it will be the central part, and that is where 11 it is the responsibility of his colleagues to look after
12 the tree and also the fire. The fire will never ever go 13 out, and that tree will never fall. And so that's where 14 they ended up at Onondaga. 15 They were able to form what they call 16 a Five Nations, and he told them that is what they have 17 to follow, the Great Law. 18 There were many different symbols that
19 were used in making the Law. There were symbols that what 20 the Creator (Native language). What the Peacemaker says, 21 what we established ourselves now, is to be called 22 Haudenosaunee. That's when he brought the Mohawk Nation 23 together at Onondaga. Mohawk, that's what it means, that
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1 they accepted the Great Peace. 2 From the east, where it links together, 3 Mohawks, Oneidas, the good mind. Here I will mention where 4 he planted the Great Tree of Peace. Right here. That
5 is the Onondaga Nation. That is also where the fire is.
6 And that is also where they buried their hatchets, the 7 weapons of war. Now it's a central park where they were 8 to hold their concert, of the Haudenosaunee. 9 Next is the Cayuga Nation. The Cayuga 10 Nation had two fires, one from the lower and also the upper 11 Cayuga. Now I guess today that's called Cornell. They
12 put a university there. That's where I come from. I come 13 from the University. My people came from that place they 14 call the Cayuga. That's what we are called, Cayugas, but 15 you say Hagas (PH). That's the kind of people we are. 16 These are the people who joined the 17 Cayuga Nation. Joining in was also what we call the Seneca 18 Nation. There still is a link there. I was told what
19 it means is that as the time changes, any nation shall 20 come. They can still add -- It was any nation as long 21 as it's Hongwayhoway, or what Ojibway called Anasnoppy 22 (PH). People from all over this land have the right to 23 come under the protection of the Great Law.
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1 So this is what made unity with the 35 2 nations. Under the Great Tree of Peace, which stood -- 3 the Great Tree of Peace stood with the white roots pointing 4 different directions: to the east, to the north, to the
5 west, to the south, four directions. That means that roots
6 go there and anybody can trace their roots that come under 7 the Great Tree of Peace. They have just as much rights 8 because they are Hongwayhoway, they are Native people. 9 They have a right to live under that. And the Iroquois 10 people cannot turn them away. 11 This is one of the first early
12 self-government. They all talk about what is 13 self-government? This is what our self-government is. 14 It existed from way at the beginning of time, but we don't 15 know. They never ever said the date. We don't know the 16 date, but it was long here before any European ever came 17 here. 18 There were many other nations, as I said,
19 that followed that White Tree of Peace. The first thing 20 was the Tuscarora, who came and joined the Confederacy. 21 So that made them the 6th nation. There was also Kudlos 22 (PH) that branched off from the Sioux nation to join the 23 Iroquois, the Nanticokes, the Miamis, Tobacco Nation, the
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1 Erie, and all these people that joined. So they became 2 what they call adoptive nations, and today became one of 3 their protection. 4 Also, we have name they use. They call
5 it (Native language). They can use that Iroquois name
6 but when they come to Iroquois country they don't have 7 a name. They call them an Indian name, Native name. You 8 can be given by the Iroquois people, but they call it -- 9 it's only like a necklace. (Native language) 10 One thing I'd like to finish off on. 11 One point about this is very important because when he
12 united all the people, it means territories. (Native 13 language), where they live, Mohawk, the territory where 14 they live, but it means that they don't own the land. 15 Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, 16 they can live there, but they don't own it, not only because 17 it was made by the Creator. We have no right to own, we 18 have no ownership to the land. We can use it as long as
19 we live, and that is the reason -- 20 Now they decided, they said "What's 21 going to happen? All our young men and other people walk 22 on this land that we live in." (Native language) "What's 23 going to happen? We live on animals, deer, moose, buffalo,
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1 all kinds of small game. What are we going to do about 2 that with people coming? There may be bloodshed from that. 3 What we will do is a symbol. We will have a dish and 4 we will put a beaver's tail in there. That will be symbolic
5 as a game. We all have rights to the game. Nobody can
6 say that's mine, you can't touch it. That belongs to the 7 Creator too." 8 "You have the right to hunt, because 9 that's your livelihood. You have the right to kill, but 10 you kill when it's time, when that moment strikes." 11 While people think we live off fish all
12 the time, people think we live off venison all the time. 13 No, it's not. It's just certain times of the year we 14 change our diet. We have closing season, we have opening 15 season, and the fall when we hunted. 16 Around about December you see some cold, 17 so that nature will build up again what was hunted. That 18 is the purpose. So that's why the hunting right was in
19 the right of the land. We all had rights to it to hunt. 20 Nobody can stop me, nobody can stop you to fish, for that 21 is the way you live. The Creator gave it to you to live 22 on that. 23 As I mentioned, He planted the Great Tree
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1 of Peace, the Peacemaker. That was the symbol that was 2 also used. You said this tree is young, just the same 3 as what he said, the day is young. When we finish the 4 Great Law, that's the time that tree will grow, will become
5 a full tree. But it's going to branch out, way out, so
6 that people can be protected under the leaves. 7 When you see those pine cones -- you 8 don't see a young tree bear pine cones. As soon as you 9 see that pine cone on that tree, now it's complete, and 10 that means peace. It's full now, in peace. So that's what 11 means the Great Law.
12 The Great Tree of Peace -- He said we 13 will sit the great word, we call the Eagle. The Eagle 14 will always look around. That will be our protection. 15 It can see far away. It has a good eye, and anything that 16 comes, trouble, that's what it means, that the Eagle will 17 give a loud noise. It will howler to notify. 18 It all has symbolic meaning which a lot
19 of people don't realize. That's why I say when you use 20 Native language into English, it loses a lot of its 21 contents. What it really means is that an Eagle sitting 22 up -- one person asked me: "I've been waiting all these 23 years, since I was young I've been hearing about that.
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1 I've been wondering when that eagle is going to howler. 2 I never heard it yet." I said, "You must have a different 3 understanding. That tree where the eagle sits, that's 4 symbolic."
5 The reason why we have Kastoa (PH) --
6 Kastoa is where people sit -- We also have the chiefs 7 who have the deer antlers. The deer is a very wise animal. 8 The eagle is only used as symbolic. 9 It means that if there is -- Adadahno, 10 the Chief of the Onondaga Nation and his colleagues, if 11 they see anything coming, it's Adadaho who's supposed to
12 howler. That's what that means. What it means to that 13 Great Tree of Peace, that is the heart of (Native language). 14 It symbolizes the unity of the clan nations. The cluster 15 of the pine needles -- it always has five. You take a 16 look at the pine tree. It has five needles, and it only 17 comes from one -- That's how well the clan nations are 18 united in the early days.
19 Another symbolic is when the Peacemaker 20 said: "We have called ourselves Haudenosaunee, after five 21 nations. To make it stronger, we will use the power, 22 because it has power. That's what we use for our 23 livelihood, this bow and arrow.
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1 Every nation has that. Everybody has 2 that, because that is their livelihood. So I want every 3 nation to come and bring one arrow, one nation." 4 So Hyawatha and his nation brought one
5 arrow. And he laid it before, gave it to the Peacemaker.
6 He says: "Now I want one from the Oneida." So (Native 7 language) brings one too. 8 The next was Onondaga. So Onadaho 9 brings one too. The next one was what we call (Native 10 language). They bring one too. So we have four. 11 The Senaca nation, that was the one that
12 (Native language) and (Native language). And now the 13 Cayuga also what they call (Native language). I guess 14 really what they really mean in those days, because what 15 it means -- (Native language) really is the full word, 16 but we have changed so much in our modern language that 17 we call it (Native language) means he heard about the Great 18 Law coming, that's why he was given this title of the Cayuga
19 nation. So now he gives one arrow, him and his colleagues. 20 So now, he says, I will demonstrate to 21 all you people that giving this arrow what it will symbolize 22 is power and unity. He put the arrows together and he 23 says "We will use the strength", that will symbolize also
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1 strength of power. It's the tendons from the deer. 2 (Native language). That means that's where the power will 3 always be. 4 But, he says, if I were to pull only one
5 arrow I could easily break one arrow. That means that one
6 nation can be conquered no matter what. But if you have 7 it will take a lot more power to break that. That's why 8 Iroquois stood, unity in the strongest. 9 For years our ancestors, because they 10 supported one another, but it was also that the Peacemaker 11 predicted that a time will come when somebody's going to
12 try to loosen that. When it becomes loose, then they're 13 going to start to pull one arrow out. That's what he 14 predicted... 15 It seems to me like that's what's 16 happened today, that the nations are pulling out. That's 17 the way I see it. (Native language). They never come 18 to councils any more. They want to govern themselves now.
19 It's just following the prediction. It has to be 20 fulfilled, but when we see that, and that's what it says 21 in the Law. (Native language). 22 Our purpose as chiefs and as people, our 23 purpose is to look at those people right there, and also
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1 the coming faces that aren't born. That is the work of 2 the Clan Mother and the Chief, to work -- that they can 3 be happy when they are born here and have their Native 4 rights. Live in peace.
5 Many things today have changed the
6 predictions. It's also been predicted (Native language). 7 The Great Law, people are going to walk away after a while. 8 You'll say that is not of today, that's too old. I've 9 heard that many times. It's too old now to follow that 10 old way. But we must not forget that is one of the first 11 self-government.
12 They're trying to give us a 13 self-government from the governments themselves which we 14 don't even know of, what kind of snake, what does it look 15 like. Maybe it's another snake that is going to eat us 16 up again, the same as the Indian Act. They say when the 17 Indian Act came in, that was the time that little snake 18 came in, because that Indian Act was so crooked, and snakes
19 travel like this, never like this. 20 When that snake grows up, that's what 21 they call the Indian Act. It's going to eat the people 22 up. Generations. That's why the Great Law says (Native 23 language).
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1 That's about all I think I can go. We're 2 out of time, but there's a lot more to it. We want to know 3 about the treaties that's connected with the Great Law. 4 Also you see this one here. Some call it Magna Carta,
5 but we call it a covenant. That's what we call the joined
6 hands with all nations. That's what makes the unity. 7 All their loss, their language, their 8 culture -- If any day you want to alienate yourself, that's 9 up to you. Maybe you want to move away from the Iroquois 10 country. That's what that means. Follow another. Maybe 11 another constitution. We have our own Five Nations
12 constitution, connected with what it says here. the Two 13 Row Wampum Treaty. All treaties talk about its connected 14 really close, what we talk about, the Great Law. 15 That's about all I think I'll have to 16 say. If I'd done it in sequence, some times I don't know 17 what to say because I'm just sort of like poking here and 18 there, just like I'm poking a horse in the belly, here
19 and there. That's what culture is. 20 I think that's about all I'll say for 21 now, unless you want me to say something else later. 22 GRAND CHIEF MIKE MITCHELL: When Jake
23 Thomas recites the Great Law, the Great Law Reading, he
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1 can go on three or four days. Just him speaking this 2 morning, two hours, and he told me he was just going to 3 touch on the highlights. So the Commission would have 4 had to sit for many days to receive the whole story, and
5 he gave you the highlights.
6 We're going to have an early lunch break, 7 because you've sat through quite a bit. We have another 8 speaker who will address you this afternoon when he goes 9 back to the Wampum Belts, specifically some of the Treaty 10 Belts. That speaker is going to be one of the leaders 11 of the Onondage Nation near Syracuse, New York, Oren Lyons,
12 who just came in, who I understand had some car trouble 13 and was stranded somewhere, but eventually got here. 14 We're going to have a break, lunch, then 15 we'll reconvene at 1 o'clock. 16 JAKE THOMAS: I think I would like to
17 mention about it, maybe I forgot to mention about it 18 earlier.
19 We had a Great Law Recital last year in 20 English, and part Mohawk, Onondaga and Cayuga. So we had 21 to use those Native languages because, as I say, you cannot 22 explain, but people know when you mention it. 23 Since there was such a great interest
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1 last year, we did the Reading of the Great Law for nine 2 days. There's so much interest and people talked about 3 it, and they keep asking me are you going to recite it 4 again this year? I said "it may be possible".
5 So my colleagues are now looking forward
6 to reciting next month, providing we have enough money 7 to operate for the Reciting of the Great Law for 12 days 8 this time. It was 9 days last year. 9 The reason why it's going to take long 10 is because we're going to do it a little different. I 11 noticed that at that time there were questions about how
12 did this come about, how did the clan come about, and all 13 things -- the tradition. So I said, that has something 14 to do with the Creation story, what happened. 15 So we're going to start off with the 16 Creation. It will take maybe two or three days to talk 17 about the Creation story. 18 Then it will go on with the Great Law.
19 After the Great Law, how it was made, 20 the tradition, then we'll get into the Treaty. The Treaty 21 will also be recited at the time. 22 Thank you. 23 --- Luncheon Recess at 11:49 a.m.
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1 --- Upon Resuming at 1:36 p.m. 2 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: Can I get your
3 attention to return back to our places so we can continue 4 with this wonderful adventure we're on.
5 Again, I am honoured to introduce to you
6 another gentleman that makes us so proud of being Indians. 7 We have Oren Lyons who arrived this 8 morning. I think it would be also a tremendous help to 9 make our Commissioners understand our problems and where 10 we're coming from, where our people have been, and the 11 kind of capabilities that we have.
12 He represents the old and the new, the 13 young. He represents the university picture, the scene 14 of New York State, Washington, and the Reservation level. 15 We have seen him here many times before. 16 We're especially happy to have him here to complement what 17 Jake Thomas has already said this morning. 18 He is a Faith Keeper and a Turtle Clan
19 member of the Onondaga Council of Chiefs. He is also a 20 professor and director of Native American studies at the 21 State University of New York at Buffalo. 22 I'm very happy and proud to give you Oren 23 Lyons, who will speak further on the Belts.
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1 Thank you. 2 OREN LYONS: My best greetings to all
3 of you. I'm very pleased that the Commission has come 4 here, and of course it's a major undertaking and very
5 important discussion that's going on nationally across
6 Canada on the issues of Indian people: Sovereignty, 7 community and future. 8 I understand that Jake was speaking this 9 morning and he was covering the foundation of this league 10 of peace, Haudenosaunee. 11 Haudenosaunee is singular. In the
12 event that we had a constitution, and the constitution 13 is an ancient one, and no one knows when that came about. 14 We just know that it was long before the White Man. It 15 was ancient when the White Man landed here. So it's old 16 business because it's old people. There's old people. 17 We're an old people. We're an ancient people. 18 In the history of humanity, the history
19 of humanity, the indigenous people of the western 20 hemisphere are as old as you can find. In longevity, when 21 cultures exist in one place for a long time they have 22 development and they have understanding. These communities 23 and these developments are based upon principles of peace.
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1 I think that's what this discussion is 2 fundamentally about across Canada, across America, 3 Central, South America, across the world, is a discussion 4 on peace. That's what people yearn for, that's what
5 governments try to give to their people, and that's what
6 we seem to be lacking in the history of humanity. 7 It was amazing that here in this land 8 people grew to such maturity in the dimensions of 9 understanding of how to be peaceful with one another. 10 Today, when we look at our communities and we see them 11 split, we see anger, we see intrusions, we see young people
12 who are confused, we see old people who are confused. 13 As a matter of fact what I see, generally 14 speaking, in governments is a state of confusion, a state 15 of unrest, and uncertainty. In these times when the 16 population of the human being is exploding to such an 17 extent, you can expect that within the next 20 years, with 18 possibly the doubling of humanity -- if not quite, almost,
19 and who knows -- that all of the problems that you face 20 today will be exacerbated. They will be increased. There 21 will be more, because there's going to be that many more 22 people. 23 If people don't know how to get along
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1 now, can you imagine what it's going to be for our 2 grandchildren who are going to have to live in the world 3 that we leave for them and the children. They need a lot 4 of help at this point. The young people need all the help.
5 As each generation leaves, what it
6 leaves is some direction for the next one. If you don't 7 have proper direction for the next generation, then there's 8 going to be strife and there's going to be almost untold 9 pain and death. 10 Based upon what you've been hearing 11 today and based upon indigenous, Aboriginal, Indian,
12 Hongwayhoway, however you want to say it, the original 13 people here, based upon that we dealt with those issues 14 a long time ago and produced the constitution that was 15 based on peace and justice for the people, and the power 16 of the good mind. 17 When they use the words "the power of 18 the good mind" they mean literally that, the Peace-keepers,
19 the Peace-makers. When they stand people up into that 20 position, it's not a very pleasant place to be. It is a 21 very difficult life. Every human being just merely being 22 a human being, you can only do the best that you can do. 23 But you should have the principles, and you should have
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1 the ability to sustain those principles in the worst of 2 the pressures that come. 3 The pressures come primarily from human 4 beings, from one to the other. So you have to have ethnics
5 and you have to have values along with law. So essentially
6 the Haudenosaunee is a nation of law, has always been a 7 nation of law. In fact, that's what they call it, the 8 Great Law, but the Great Law of Peace. 9 I've looked around the countries and 10 I've looked around the histories of the world, and I don't 11 see a constitution based on peace anywhere. This is the
12 only one that I know of. Among other Indian 13 nations, and I should be broad in the statement here that 14 wherever I've gone in my travels in North America, in 15 Central America, in South America, where I've gone, and 16 when I've dealt with the original people of those lands 17 I find very consistent thinking of the principles that 18 we understand. Very, very consistent.
19 We were just in Rio a year ago, June 20 almost now. We met with the Kyapos (PH) and we met with 21 the Yanamomies (PH) and we met with many, many of the Indian 22 nations from Brazil. When we sat and we talked with them 23 it was clear that they understood the principles that we
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1 understand. 2 When we sat and we talked with the 3 Aboriginal people from Australia, they too talked about, 4 they called it two laws, or two paths, and we knew
5 immediately what they were talking about. They were
6 talking about the Two Row. Yet we had never had a contact 7 with them, and they understood. 8 So across the world where Indigenous 9 people are, they function fundamentally under the natural 10 law, and that's why they're consistent in understanding. 11 And of course all people function under the natural law.
12 That's the underpinning of life. 13 The question that arises is governments 14 functioning under that law. If governments' 15 constitutions are not based upon the understanding of that 16 natural fundamental law of life, then they will not succeed 17 and they will not continue to exist. 18 The intellect of humanity and the human
19 being and the arrogance that goes with it has proven to 20 be our undoing time and time again. We get lost in our 21 arrogance. We get lost in our lack of humility. That's 22 why it's always refreshing to talk with the old people, 23 because they don't have that. They don't have arrogance,
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1 and they don't have a lack of humility. They're humble 2 people. They're kind. 3 What is the best direction that you can 4 give to your child, which is to be friendly, to be peaceful,
5 and to have respect for your elders and for your
6 grandparents. That's the best instruction that you can 7 give to your children. It's the best instruction that 8 you can give to anybody. And if anybody and everybody 9 worked under those simple rules, you have peace. It's 10 not complicated. 11 In the development, if we can use that
12 word, of the human beings into first from groups to nation 13 states now, we have the problems of governance. So that's 14 fundamentally what we're talking about today, governance 15 and the principles that govern. 16 I'm sure that after Jake had got through 17 telling you, as he said it's a short time. It's a very 18 short time to come here in a few hours and begin to discuss
19 these major, major intricacies of how a people govern and 20 what is it that sustains them. 21 At this particular time, and probably 22 they're finishing just about now, we're finishing our 23 planting ceremony today. The chiefs are occupied. I was
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1 the only that could come. They decided that it was 2 important, so I left what I was and should have been, at 3 our planting ceremony with the people, giving thanks, which 4 is our first obligation to the Creation and to the Creator,
5 to give thanks, to be thankful.
6 Fundamentally, if you base a government 7 on that, you have a big start. Unfortunately, as we come 8 back into today's times we come to the terminology of 9 international economies. We come into word usages like 10 technology. We talk about international law. We talk 11 about treaties.
12 How does that work with us? Where are 13 we? I think that it's to the credit of whoever it was 14 in the Canadian government who decided to do this 15 particular project that they're doing. I think it's 16 fundamentally important and probably, hopefully it doesn't 17 end with this but begins to inspect a people for who they 18 are, and gives us at least a short moment in the history
19 of a nation to speak about what we think is important. 20 And it's difficult. 21 I know from what all of the people have 22 to do here, everybody has taken their time to come here 23 and gather. It's difficult to give up these particular
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1 segments of time but obviously it's important for what 2 we're trying to establish or to transfer, which is some 3 understanding of how we operate. 4 When we talk about them, where does the
5 sovereignty of a people or a nation come from? Where does
6 it come from? 7 With Indian nations and with Indigenous 8 peoples there's never any doubt. They say it comes from 9 the Creator. 10 If we asked this question to 11 international state or power, like France or America, they
12 say it comes from our constitution. In other words, it 13 comes from the minds of men. Not much discussion about 14 women. But the minds of men. 15 If you look about you today 16 internationally you can see the consequence of that. It's 17 a mess. The world is literally in a mess. Unspeakable 18 atrocities today going on in what was once a country called
19 Yugoslavia. Unspeakable atrocities in this time, in this 20 day and age. 21 In this supposed time of enlightment we 22 have a United Nations almost tied, unable to move. We 23 have the most powerful country politically, economically
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1 in the world unable to act. What we're looking at is we're 2 looking at sort of a conclusion of a direction. We're 3 coming to a conclusion. 4 I tell you that one of the few things
5 that I've learned, one of the important things that I've
6 learned from sitting in a Council of Chiefs for many many 7 years now is the importance of vision, the importance of 8 being able to see way ahead. That kind of leadership, 9 that kind of importance, is just fundamentally what kept 10 us alive up to this point, kept us operating. 11 And of course the principles of the
12 Constitution that you heard. How do you impart and do 13 we, as a people, as the Houdenosaunee, as Canadians or 14 as Americans or as whoever, how do we engage ourselves 15 today in a common dialogue for peace? Well, finding out 16 one way how people do that, how did they accomplish that? 17 So you heard this morning how we gathered 18 people, how the Peacemaker worked so hard to bring peace
19 to our nations, which we see today starting to 20 disintegrate. And I've heard the terms of digging up the 21 arrows under the Tree of Peace. I've heard that in these 22 times. That's a most disturbing statement. 23 The symbols that the Peacemaker laid
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1 down for us are very important. The depictions that we 2 have here of these major Belts probably in time will become 3 as well known and as important internationally as the Dead 4 Sea Scrolls. These documents are the fundaments of
5 democracy as we know it in the world today. That's what
6 these documents are here. The confederations, the 7 principles of peace. 8 These things are something that was 9 created by our people so long ago, and they will in time 10 be understood for the importance of what they are. 11 How did a free people, nations of people
12 in North America, in the western hemisphere, shall I say 13 -- we'll keep it sort of contained today. We'll talk about 14 Indigenous people of the western hemisphere. How did all 15 of these free people lose what they have? 16 How did they come to be such small groups 17 in small pieces of land, tucked away here and there in 18 large dimensions of nation states. How did that happen?
19 What was the process that separated our people from these 20 large tracks of land? 21 I think that in the interest of what the 22 Canadian government is trying to do, that we must come 23 to the core, to the understanding, at the bottom of how
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1 this all happened. If we are to make any kind of a 2 realistic change, then we have to challenge the root of 3 what caused this strife. 4 It's there for anybody to find if you
5 want to take the time, and some of our people did. We
6 have begun to isolate the root of the problem of why we're 7 on such small pieces of land and why the discussion never 8 seems to be able to come to the term of what Indian people 9 understand of sovereignty in your own emerging as 10 recognized sovereign people. 11 First of all, sovereignty is a European
12 term, and it refers directly to kings. It refers to 13 monarchy. It has nothing to do with democracy whatsoever. 14 Sovereign, a sovereign is the king. And the king owns 15 everything. 16 We've heard what a tough life Robin Hood 17 had. Why? Because he was shooting the king's deer. We 18 had a discussion with the U.S. Conservation Service one
19 time. They were telling us that we couldn't hunt at a 20 certain time, and we said "why not?". And they said, 21 "well, out of season". And we said, "whose season?". They 22 say, "well, this is the State of New York and the federal 23 government has seasons for hunting." We said "for hunting
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1 deer?" "Yes." 2 However, a young man stood up and said 3 "how many deer did you bring over in the Nina, the Pinta 4 and the Santa Maria? How many deer did you bring over
5 in the Mayflower? Now you're telling us that we can't
6 hunt. Where did you gain that?" It was sort of a simple 7 fundamental question which they couldn't answer. It was 8 an embarrassing question for them. 9 It's that kind of a question that we're 10 at at this moment. Indeed, where do you get the authority? 11 Where does it emanate from?
12 We say the Creator; they say the Creator. 13 We have a commonality here. How did that occur? 14 Before they came here -- and I am talking 15 about the Europeans -- there was in Europe at this time 16 great powers, and one of the major powers at the time of 17 the landfall of Columbus was the Roman Catholic Church. 18 The Roman Catholic Church was a major political power
19 in all of Europe. They were having their problems. There 20 was some divisiveness coming forward at this point, and 21 there were some splits taking place to where one King from 22 England said, "Why should I have fealty to this person 23 who lives in Italy? I am a king, so let me make my own
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1 Bible." So he did. He made his own Bible called the King 2 James version. If you're Protestant, that's the one you 3 read. Why? Because fundamentally they said, "Now, wait 4 a minute. Let's have a little discussion about this
5 power."
6 The power they were talking about was 7 issuing from the Pope in Rome -- not exactly Rome. In 8 those days it was in Portugal where the power was. 9 Portugal in those days was a great, great power. So the 10 Pope, who resided in Portugal, said to the King of Portugal 11 in 1452 in the papal bull, "Enslave all Saracens and
12 heathens forever." With those words, he wedded the church 13 with the military. That was like a green light that said, 14 "Go. You have the sanction of the church to enslave 15 people." 16 So, if you want to talk about where the 17 slavery comes from, that's one place. That is not to say 18 that slavery wasn't taking place around the world
19 otherwise; it was. But this was a formal dictum. This 20 is what they called a papal bull. 21 After the discovery, again another papal 22 bull issued in 1493 saying, "Bring all heathens and pagans 23 to the church." They said at that time that the Pope had
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1 power over everything, over people, that it emanated from 2 Christ to St. Peter to the Pope. We understand that 3 succession of power. 4 So, coming across then in the Nina and
5 the Pinta and the Santa Maria was not just a group of people
6 from Spain. There was coming a philosophy, a philosophy 7 that said, "Bring all heathens and pagans to the church," 8 and the lands and the properties, by the way. So began 9 a holocaust on our people that we are still suffering from. 10 In the past 10 years 100,000 Mayans in 11 Guatemala have been killed; 400 villages have been burned
12 to the ground in the past 10 years. Still pagans, still 13 Indians. Who did it? It seems like not only just the 14 government, but even the others. 15 So always it was the law of our people 16 to be the ones to receive the damage most directly. How 17 do we survive? How do we continue? For the 18 Haudenosaunee, luckily we have this, and we still have
19 Chiefs and we still have a system that has managed to 20 survive through all this time simply because of the power 21 and the strength of the instructions in this Constitution 22 of peace. 23 This perhaps is what we can offer as some
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1 support. 2 So if it is the papal bulls that are at 3 the bottom, how does that continue? Well, what happened 4 was that the European nations got together and they said,
5 "Look at this whole western hemisphere that we just found,"
6 with Spain alone bringing 280,000 tons of gold back to 7 Europe. Can you conceive of 280,000 tons? It changed 8 the face of the earth. That is where you began the process 9 of Wall Street. The oldest and first corporation in this 10 world is just north of us here, called the Hudson Bay Fur 11 Company -- the oldest corporation in the world. A lot
12 of things started here that involved the rest of the world 13 and indeed today dictates a lot of direction. 14 What happened to the original people? 15 What happened to us? 16 When the Christians split and one became 17 Protestant and one became Catholic, the one thing they 18 did not split on was how they were going to deal with us
19 -- we have our problems, but let's get together on this 20 one. So they sat down and they formed what they called 21 the Law of Nations. This Law of Nations said simply that, 22 when you came to any lands where there were no Christians 23 living, then the lands were declared vacant. Only if
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1 another Christian nation had "prior discovery", then would 2 the Law of Nations prevail and the first one that discovered 3 would prevail. That's why they sat down and created this 4 fiction of law. With this fiction of law, they stole all
5 our land.
6 The people think that this law doesn't 7 operate in contemporary times. You had better pay 8 attention, because it does. 9 In 1950 there was in the United States 10 an attempt to assimilate all the Indian Nations. In 1950 11 they just wanted to do away with all Indian territories.
12 They started, and as a matter of fact they got along quite 13 a way on it. They took our Chiefs and they went to 14 Washington in 1954, and they tried to buy this treaty. 15 They tried to buy it for $64,000 in 1954. With this 16 particular treaty, which we will get into, there is treaty 17 cloth that comes with it. They said, "Well, look, you're 18 getting just this little piece of cloth now, with all your
19 people coming. Wouldn't it be better if we just gave you 20 this big chunk of money here that you can do something 21 with, and then we will be dispensing with this business 22 of sending cloth to you every year?" The Chiefs smiled 23 and they said, "When that cloth is the size of a postage
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1 stamp, we will demand it," because they understood full 2 well that that was an agreement in the treaty we are talking 3 about. 4 So, unable to gain that treaty, the
5 Haudenosaunee survived that particular assault, but other
6 Nations did not. There is a whole history that I don't 7 think we have time to get into in singular process, but 8 principles we can talk about. 9 What happened with this idea of a papal 10 bull, of the Law of Nations based on Christianity? Well, 11 it was used. In 1823, in the Supreme Court of the United
12 States, John Marshall said in Johnson v. MacIntosh, a very 13 famous court case -- he used the Law of Nations as a 14 foundation for his decision. By doing that in the Supreme 15 Court he installed that principle into the law of the United 16 States. 17 In 1955 in another major Supreme Court 18 case called Tihaton(PH) v. U.S., a land claim, the Supreme
19 Court said, "Going back to John Marshall's decision in 20 1823, which we think is a great decision, obviously Indian 21 people don't have standing. How can you make a land claim 22 when you are not an entity, when it says clearly in the 23 Law of Discovery that you don't exist, and that all you
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1 have on your territory is the right of occupancy? Title, 2 no." Tihaton v. U.S., 1955 -- the most racist language 3 I have seen in a court case, ever. Federal, Supreme Court 4 law.
5 It didn't stop there. Not too long ago
6 in British Columbia, when the Gitskan Indians made a land 7 claim, the Supreme Court of British Columbia said, "You 8 lose." Why did we lose? Because of the Law of Nations. 9 So 500 years have gone by, and in 10 principle nothing has changed. 11 So, in this discussion that we are having
12 on what is going to happen to Indians, is it not relevant 13 to attack or challenge? I am asking the Canadian 14 government at this point to deal with that underlying 15 power, underlying fundamental law they call it, that has 16 denied our people land and even an identity. 17 Some people didn't believe that, and 18 they were the Indians. The Indians didn't believe it.
19 Our Chiefs didn't believe it. Our people didn't believe 20 it. That's where you come into conflict. That's the 21 basis of the conflict, when somebody tells you something 22 that you know to be not true. 23 What is sovereignty? I have been in the
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1 past 30 years to more meetings that Indians have, with 2 big banners, "Indian sovereignty." Every year -- and I 3 am sure we will find one somewhere this year -- there is 4 going to be another meeting on sovereignty. They are
5 asking, when they come to this meeting, "Why are there
6 so many meetings about sovereignty?" It is because nobody 7 can grab it. They all walk away saying, "The federal law 8 says we're sovereign; I can read it. We say we're 9 sovereign; I understand that. But, still, the police 10 come. Still, the jurisdiction is put on top. Why? I 11 don't understand."
12 So they have a meeting. Let's have a 13 meeting on sovereignty and find out. What they don't 14 understand is that there is no sovereignty unless you 15 exercise it yourself. Sovereignty is the act thereof, 16 nothing more, nothing less. You are as sovereign as you 17 are. 18 When we do something like issue a
19 passport in the international field, when the 20 Haudenosaunee Nation said, "We are going to Europe; how 21 are we going to get there? We understand you need 22 passports. What does that mean? Do we have to go to the 23 American government? No, we are sovereign. Does that
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1 mean we have to go to the Canadian government? If we are 2 sovereign, why should we? What does that mean? It means 3 we have to make our own. How do you make one? I don't 4 know. Gather the people up and let's see. Get a passport.
5 Here's one, let's make it." In 1977 we made a passport,
6 issued from Onondaga, stamped by the sovereign Nation of 7 Onondaga. As the central fire, as you have it up there, 8 it has the right to do that. For better or worse, it 9 operates. Sometimes it doesn't. It's very difficult to 10 travel, but it works. That's sovereignty. 11 The Nation didn't go to the United States
12 government and ask. They didn't go to the Canadian 13 government and ask. They went to their own people and 14 asked. The people said, "Make it." That was it. 15 So it is how you see yourself. It is 16 how you perceive yourself. We know, and we believe in 17 the Creation. We are very spiritual people. We believe 18 in that, and that is why we have our ceremonies and that
19 is why it was so easy for the church to talk to our people, 20 because they were already very spiritual. They were 21 always impressed with the zeal of these missionaries -- 22 there must be something to it; look how fierce they are. 23 Indians are spiritual, religious
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1 people, always have been and, hopefully, always will be, 2 because that is the fundamental law. That's the main law 3 of survival. That is the law of regeneration. Any law 4 that you make you must bind to that spiritual law. If
5 you don't, you're not going to make it, because the
6 spiritual law, the law of reality that is outside here, 7 that says you must drink water to live, that you must eat 8 to survive, that you must build shelter for your children, 9 that you must plant, you must harvest, you must work with 10 the seasons -- that law does not change. That's the major 11 law that governs all life on this earth.
12 If nations don't make their law 13 accordingly, they will fail eventually because no human 14 being is capable of changing that particular law. Our 15 people understood that. That is why we are having a 16 planting dance now. That is why we will have a dance for 17 the strawberries, the beans, the green corn, the harvest. 18 Why? Because we understand thanksgiving, where it comes
19 from -- the earth, the mother. That is why women are 20 fundamentally important in government. Their 21 perspective, their compassion, their choice, their 22 attitudes toward family, the leaders that they choose are 23 like them; otherwise, they wouldn't choose them.
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1 The process of raising leaders is 2 complicated, and there are checks all the way. You are 3 not going to get a leader, because if they are raising 4 one in the Confederacy, we, being a circle of Chiefs, will
5 be the last judge. A nation can choose their leader.
6 That's their duty and that's their responsibility, but 7 that doesn't end there. It must go to the Grand Council 8 where it is finally sanctioned. 9 When you pick someone that you think is 10 going to be your leader, you must think ahead because you 11 know that at one point he is going to be sitting in front
12 of all the people of the Six Nations, and they will say 13 whether you are a Chief or not. That's how it works, and 14 that is why it is important to have the clan mother make 15 that choice -- to choose the good man, the compassionate 16 man, the fair man, the family man, the one who is concerned 17 for people. 18 Then, when you put you up, as Jake has
19 said many times, they put in your hands the protection 20 of life -- and they're not just talking about people now; 21 they are talking about everything. So your responsibility 22 immediately goes beyond. You have to think of everything. 23 When you think of exploiting something
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1 that you have for commerce, think twice, because that is 2 under your protection. 3 Today we face the reality of 4 international commerce, the world market. I talked in
5 Davos, Switzerland almost two years ago now, a year and
6 a half. I was invited by the World Economic Forum, a 7 consortium of 1,000 of the major corporations of the world. 8 They asked me to speak to them, much like I am speaking 9 to you. I said, "What is your interest?" They said, 10 "There is relevance in what you are saying." 11 What I found out in talking to these CEOs
12 -- and that is who came. These were the CEOs; this was 13 their meeting. They had the common sense to sit down once 14 a year to talk among themselves on what they were going 15 to do with the world. I said to them at one point -- and 16 I was sitting in a kind of exclusive group of CEOs. I 17 said, "You realize, of course, that the direction of your 18 economics is going to destroy the world. You understand
19 that." They said, "Yes, we do." "Well," I said, "being 20 intelligent people and being in charge, then why do you 21 not change direction and do something that is going to 22 be better?" They said, "Because our system is based on 23 profit. If I do not produce for my constituency, for my
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1 stockholders, a profit, I am fired." 2 I asked them, "Well, then, maybe it's 3 the wrong question I am asking you. When do you cease 4 to be a president of a corporation and when do you become
5 a father or a grandfather?" I said, "Maybe that's the
6 question I should ask you, when profits for a company has 7 to be challenged by the life of your own children. When 8 do you make that decision?" I got no answer. But that 9 indeed is the question. 10 When we talk about economics and we talk 11 about development and we talk about money, we have to
12 balance that with reality. We have to balance that with 13 quality of life, with peace, with community. I think, 14 if there is anything that indigenous people can offer this 15 Commission, it is that perspective, and it is fundamentally 16 important for survival. Every question that is political 17 is also moral -- every question -- and you have to answer 18 it morally. That brings responsibility to governance and
19 governors and people. 20 You must get beyond this generation. 21 They told us that: Don't think of your generation, your 22 family; think of the next generation. Think of those 23 children coming. Think of that life coming. Make your
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1 decision for them. If you make good decisions for them, 2 you will have a good life because that good decision 3 descends on your people. That is governments with reality 4 and with quality. It is called quality of life.
5 What is the quality of our life these
6 days? I saw -- and I have mentioned to this Commission 7 -- on my way up to Ottawa that day, reading the magazine 8 that USAir has in its pocket in front of your seat -- I 9 opened it up to an advertisement. It was an advertisement 10 of Toys 'R Us. There was a nice picture of this 11 grandfatherly gentleman who was the CEO, the head of Toys
12 'R Us. He said in the statement there, "My best salesman, 13 my most vicious --" did he call them vicious; I think he 14 did -- "-- are the five-year-olds. These are my best 15 salesmen because their grandparents cannot refuse them." 16 So he has targeted these children as his salesmen to sell 17 toys. That's the nature of competition. 18 What do you do when a government says
19 that's okay? What is your response? The only response 20 that you can possibly have is to teach at home in your 21 house these values which can help to circumvent that. 22 But when every television that you turn on on Saturday 23 morning says the same thing, it's a pretty tough fight.
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1 I know because I see my own grandson wearing $85 sneaks 2 and $100 sneaks. "Boy, they're pretty fancy." "Yeah, 3 it makes me run faster." There it is. 4 At any rate, in the discussion of going
5 from what Jake was talking about this morning, the
6 foundation, those principles which we are saying are the 7 basic principles of peace, how does that operate and how 8 did that help us? Well, it helped us a great deal. 9 During the revolution and during the 10 development, shall we say, of the northeast coast of 11 America, when the English came in very strongly and the
12 French came in very strongly and then the Spanish were 13 moving up along the Mississippi, when the Dutch were here 14 early on, in probably one of the finest hunting grounds 15 and fishing grounds the world has ever seen, which is the 16 New York Harbour now, that place was where elk and even 17 buffalo were teeming, where all nations went to hunt and 18 fish. It's still a fly-way. You can see today the geese
19 coming over the twin towers on Wall Street, still following 20 the Creator's direction. They still go that way. It's 21 a fly-way. It hasn't changed. What has changed is what 22 is underneath. They have to fly higher and they have to 23 go through a lot of smoke, and they have to do all kinds
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1 of stuff, but they continue. 2 That was a beautiful place, what they 3 call New York and Long Island now, with the Hudson, which 4 wasn't the Hudson then. The water was pure; you could
5 drink the water -- any water, any stream, anywhere. Fish
6 so thick you could run on their backs. If there was an 7 Eden, this was the place. There were people here who were 8 spiritual people, who believed in the Creator, and still 9 do. 10 So we have come to this point. This 11 point, on behalf of these young people here and on behalf
12 of the people in the community and those mothers who have 13 to worry about this business -- on behalf of them, 14 hopefully, chart a course that is going to help us survive. 15 This is going to take tremendous honesty on the part of 16 the Canadian government. They are going to have to take 17 this moral question and deal with it. If they do not and 18 they maintain this doctrine of discovery, if they maintain
19 that foundation, there will be no peace. 20 This is not a direction for Native 21 people; this is direction for people. This is an 22 opportunity. It's an obligation; it's a responsibility, 23 and a pretty heavy one, as I see it, to land on your
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1 shoulders, because I know what the attitude is. 2 Nevertheless, that doesn't change the argument or the need. 3 During the development of this country, 4 when did the Englishman become an American? When did that
5 happen? Did it happen like that? No, it didn't. It took
6 a long time; it took years back and forth -- years of 7 diplomatic discussion, years of rubbing shoulders with 8 Indians. The Jesuits were complaining. They said they 9 were losing more of their people to free Indians than they 10 were gaining converts. As anyone knows, when you taste 11 freedom, there is nothing less; there is nothing less.
12 When you once know freedom, you won't accept anything less. 13 That's what made our nation so powerful, because they 14 understood what they were talking about. 15 Going back to that time -- and I have 16 to move a little faster, I think. There was a meeting 17 -- and I think there is another belt. There was a meeting 18 of these two peoples, and it was in this place we talked
19 about called Manhattan, where the Dutch had come in and 20 they had sat down and they were trading. The Dutch were 21 always traders, and they are still traders; they are still 22 merchants. They have the biggest sea port in the world; 23 they still have that kind of business. It's not that long
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1 ago, you understand, in terms of time. 2 At that time, they came up and they had 3 a meeting up there at the headwaters of the Mohawk and 4 the Hudson -- Three Rivers, they called it. It was the
5 Dutchmen talking to the Mohawks at the time. They said
6 to them, "We want to do some business. We want to do some 7 trade. We would like to exchange some of these things, 8 but we're afraid. Can you give us some kind of a safeguard 9 so that we can travel in your country?" The Mohawks said, 10 "Well, look, we have been watching you for quite some time, 11 and it does not look like you are going to leave. You
12 just keep coming, so why don't we just sit down and talk 13 a little broader. Let's talk about how we get along." 14 So that's how it started. 15 There was a request for trade, and it 16 wound up being a discussion between two peoples. So they 17 worked and they talked for a long time, and they came up 18 with the idea of this belt called the Geswentha(PH), Two
19 Row. There was a lot of discussion, and they had made 20 up their minds by the time they got to making the belt. 21 At the time, they said, "How are we going to deal with 22 one another?" So they set up the discussion of what do 23 we do when we see one another. They said, "We greet one
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1 another in peace. That will be the foundation of our 2 discussion -- peace between our peoples." 3 This belt is a document of humanity. 4 This is a very humanitarian belt for a lot of reasons.
5 At the time the discussion was going on, this North America
6 was all Indian, and you had only this little outpost of 7 white people. Yet, the Indians didn't make a small line. 8 They made an equal line because they recognized and they 9 believed in the Creation. So, obviously, if you believe 10 in the Creation, then what you see about you is made by 11 the Creator and, if you what you see about you is made
12 by the Creator, then the person you are talking to obviously 13 has been made by the Creator and so must demand your respect 14 and so must be equal. That's quite simple; it is not 15 complicated. 16 This document recognizes that. If they 17 had wanted to go to the power, they could have made this 18 side of the belt very wide and this side very slim and
19 exercised power, but they didn't. They said, "We are 20 interested in peace and in friendship." They said, "Look, 21 you people have a lot of problems. We notice that in your 22 boats that come over here, there are different colours 23 in your boats; there are different varieties of people.
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1 Our canoe is simple, and our life is simple. It is not 2 complicated, but it's a hard life. Nevertheless, this 3 is what ours are; this is the people that are in our canoe; 4 this is their way of life, their governance." They said,
5 "When we gather your people, why don't we put all of our
6 people in our canoe and then we will put all your people 7 in your boat, because you have a big boat. You get in 8 there with all your stuff, and that is where you will be, 9 on the river, this life. Now we will go down this river 10 of life, our people in our canoe, our way of life, our 11 government, our religion, and we will be bound by this
12 chain, this covenant, the Covenant Chain, which has three 13 links: the link of peace and friendship forever." 14 They didn't quite say it that way. What 15 they said was: How shall we bind this agreement? They 16 said, "What happens if you people are going to come in 17 our boat and our people are going to get in your canoe?" 18 The Chiefs at that time said, "That will happen. There
19 is going to be more of our people climbing in your boat 20 than your people getting in our canoe, because it's a small 21 canoe and it's pretty hard. Nevertheless, that will 22 happen. As a matter of fact, we are going to have people 23 with one foot in the canoe and one foot in the boat. There
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1 will be many at a time later on." Remember, we are talking 2 about 1613 here. 3 They said, "In this time, down the way 4 there is going to come a wind which will part our boats
5 for a while. When it does, those people standing that
6 way will fall into this river of life, and no one this 7 side of Creation can save them. That will happen. But 8 it will continue." 9 So this document then was an agreement 10 between two peoples to respect one another's ways, to 11 respect one another's religions, to respect one another's
12 governments. Every time we come to any discussion, 13 whether it is with the Canadian government, with the 14 American government, whether with any government, the Two 15 Row comes out. Often the officials of this government 16 are perplexed: What is that? And we explain what it is 17 So these two go together, the chain. They 18 said, "With this chain we are going to bind you to our
19 shores in peace and friendship. We're binding you." So 20 we indeed have a treaty of peace and friendship with our 21 European brothers and sisters. 22 During this discussion, which I am being 23 very scattered out -- as Jake said, I am jumping around.
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1 During this discussion they said, "How shall we call one 2 another when we see one another?" They said, "Well, call 3 us Father when you see us, because 'Father' denotes great 4 love." So the Chiefs considered that. They retired and
5 they thought about it, and they said, "That's true, but
6 'Father' also denotes that you must exercise some control 7 and authority, and you may even have to chastise your 8 children. So perhaps we should call one another 9 'Brother'." 10 So they went back and they said that to 11 them. They said, "We understand that 'Father' means a
12 great love, but we think that in this case we call one 13 another 'Brother' because that means equal." It was 14 agreed upon. 15 So, when we see documents and we see the 16 word 'Brother', it is coming from this time. This is the 17 grandfather of all of the treaties. This is the 18 grandfather, these words in here. This is how we will
19 bind it, we will hold hands. When we hold hands, they 20 said, we will talk about the sun. We will hold hands as 21 long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. 22 They said, "We will hold hands as long as the grass grows 23 green. We will hold hands as long as the water runs
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1 downhill and as long as the earth survives." This is the 2 covenant. This is the peace. This is why we try so hard 3 today to keep the peace between our people, because it 4 is an agreement. It is ancient, but it is very
5 contemporary right now.
6 It is instruction. It is what our 7 grandfathers said. It's what their grandfathers said. 8 You want to remember one thing, that this 9 was a trade agreement. This was initiating an exchange 10 between our people. So with it, with the Covenant Chain, 11 they said, "How shall we do this?" They made a pipe, a
12 silver pipe. With this silver pipe there are three links: 13 peace, friendship for as long as the sun shines, as long 14 as the grass grows green, as long as the water flows. 15 If you go across this country, in the 16 United States 271 treaties, how many times will you hear 17 those very words in all of the treaties? The Crees have 18 said, "This is our treaty." Other nations have said, "Yes,
19 this is a common treaty." This is old, this is very old, 20 and so is this. 21 In the process of time, when more and 22 more people came -- they said one more thing. They said, 23 "How will you know me when we meet?" They said, "You will
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1 know us by the way we dress. That's how we will know one 2 another." That's an instruction: How do I know you? 3 By the way you dress. See what I mean? 4 It's important to keep your culture,
5 your distinctions, because that is the definition.
6 In our territories, in any territory in 7 the world, there are three borders that you must be very 8 careful of. The first border is your geographic border. 9 If you look on a map, you will see geography; you will 10 see where your land is. There is a line. You have to 11 know where that is. You must know your own borders. The
12 second border is your political border. Who goes in and 13 out of that border? How do they go in and out of that 14 border? You must defend your political border. The third 15 border is your economic border. That is what this was 16 about. They made it clear: You stay in your boat and 17 we will stay in our canoe. They made it clear. There 18 was no ambiguity about that, because they understood those
19 borders. 20 We will go side by side in peace down 21 through the river of life. Those are the borders you have 22 to look after. Those are your borders. How are people 23 looking after it?
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1 I will tell you where they are in a 2 shambles. They are in a shambles in the economic. The 3 borders are ashambles where the economies are. We have 4 a federal program over here; we have this federal program
5 over here; we have this moving back and forth, and people
6 are confused now. That is why they are having discussions 7 on sovereignty, because something happened and they don't 8 know what, but there seems to be no border. If the time 9 comes when there is no border, then there is no border. 10 You gave it up. You gave it away. You didn't pay 11 attention. Whose fault?
12 Those are borders that every nation 13 understands. When you travel, you have to have a passport. 14 Why? Because you come to a border. Not only that, but 15 when you go over that border, they change your money. 16 You can't even use your own money -- guilders, francs, 17 pesetas. Wherever you go, there is different money. 18 Economy, how you survive. Then you must
19 be able to have economy within your structure to help you 20 survive. If you are going to be working with economies 21 out there, then you better have rules about how it goes 22 back and forth. If you don't, that's where you lose. 23 No nation is independent in this world.
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1 Every nation in this world is interdependent. When we 2 had the coldest of cold wars, when the United States and 3 Canada were looking at the Soviet Union as a possible 4 nuclear attack, in the midst of that time not too long
5 ago, 1984-1985, when there was utmost fear in the people
6 that this could happen, we were trading wheat with them. 7 What does that mean? It means there is a practicality 8 to this existence, and no one is independent. We are not 9 independent, and they are not independent. We have to 10 interact. They do it all the time, and we have to learn. 11 But we must maintain the control within our territories.
12 We must know what we are doing. Otherwise, it gets away 13 and becomes a jurisdictional problem, and then you have 14 police, then you have unrest. 15 Where are we now? Well, we are here. 16 We are here as a union, the oldest Confederacy in the 17 world no doubt. When the Peacemaker bound these arrows, 18 he meant what he said: Your strength is in unity. The
19 Onondagas the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the Senecas, the 20 Mohawks -- it's a unity. If you want to go by yourself, 21 you are not going to last. That's what he said. It's 22 simple. 23 What happened? Benjamin Franklin said,
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1 "Good idea. I think we'll make a country." He made the 2 United States. It wasn't George Washington; he wasn't 3 the visionary. Benjamin Franklin was the visionary. He 4 is the one who saw this union. He spoke about it. He
5 said, "It looks like it's going to last forever, for as
6 long as the spirit is in the people." A powerful symbol. 7 That's why he took our symbols, he took our eagle, and 8 in the eagle's hands are 13 arrows. When they joined 9 themselves together in a union, they called themselves 10 the thirteen fires, as we called ourselves the five fires. 11 They used our terminology.
12 They said to us in 1774, "Your 13 grandfathers told us in Lancaster in 1744 to make a union 14 like yours. We are now going to take your advice." They 15 made a nation based on this principle of unity. They are 16 still there and they are pretty strong. Where are we? 17 Priorities are what count, and your 18 priorities are going to have to be in the hands of your
19 leadership, and remember that the power of your union is 20 the people -- always the people. At the centre of that 21 is the women. That is why the Peacemaker made us a 22 matrilineal system. That is why the Canadian government 23 comes along and says, "You have to go by our system, which
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1 is by the father," and thereby disrupted untold generations 2 of our people and caused great confusion to some, but not 3 to all. Some of our people still understand that and hang 4 on to that. That's a fundamental law. It means the earth
5 itself -- the women, the power of life. That's why he
6 said that. 7 We don't give that up easily. That's 8 fundamental to life. I have heard discussions. It comes 9 from the people and goes back to the people. 10 Then we had a lot of trouble. They 11 became very powerful, and there was a fight between the
12 two, father and son. The English king was the father, 13 and the colonists were his son. They fought. We were 14 in the middle of it. The Mohawks fought on one side; the 15 Mohawks fought on both sides. The Oneidas on both sides. 16 Onondagas and Cayugas hung in the middle. Senecas on 17 both sides. 18 What they said when that time came was,
19 "We are going to bury these Wampums, this union, these 20 belts, in the ground." When this time has passed, we dig 21 them up and we are still here. 22 As a consequence, in 1784, at the Fort 23 Stanwicks Treaty, it was a Haudenosaunee treaty, the Six
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1 Nations. Even after all of that, the first treaty they 2 made with the United States was won, even after all of 3 that strife. In 1789, Fort Harmer, another treaty. 4 Then there was a history which you have
5 to understand a little bit about, so I will take a few
6 minutes to say what happened at that time. 7 At that time, when the United States had 8 consolidated its power and began to look west and say, 9 "Now we have more Indian land out there; we have to go 10 to the Great Lakes; we have to have agreement with the 11 Haudenosaunee, peace," they made a treaty called the
12 Northwest Ordinance in 1787. That was with the Ohio 13 people. That was the Great Lakes people -- the Northwest 14 Ordinance. They said, "Our people will not come into your 15 territory," and they bound themselves with a Wampum. 16 There is a Wampum for that. 17 At that time the United States was making 18 Wampums. That is how Indian they were in their thinking.
19 They made a Wampum, and then they couldn't control their 20 people. Their people came, and so there were fights. 21 The Indians retaliated. They said, "We 22 have a treaty. What are your people doing here? They 23 are coming by the hundreds, and there is trouble." There
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1 was so much trouble that the Indians stood up and pushed 2 them back. When they did that, General Washington said, 3 "General Harmer, I am going to give you a duty. You go 4 out there and you chastise those Ohio Indians, and make
5 sure you do a good job because we just can't have this."
6 So Harmer went out there and, to make 7 a long story short, killed more Harmer men than they did 8 at the Little Big Horn. Over 400 were killed. They chased 9 them all the way back to Philadelphia, and they were going 10 to court martial him because he did such a bad job. 11 This really destabilized the new
12 country. They didn't have England to depend on for their 13 money. France was shaking their heads and saying, "Good 14 work," but there was no French francs coming. They were 15 in trouble. 16 So he called another general. This 17 general was down there battling the Seminoles in Florida. 18 His name was General Sinclair. That was his best man.
19 He came up and Washington said, "I am going to give you 20 my mounted; I am going to give you my horsemen. I am going 21 to give you cannons. I am going to give you 3,000 people. 22 I want you to go over there and I want you to chastise 23 these people. Sinclair, you're the best; you must." So
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1 he went. 2 They were fighting at that time the 3 Delawares and the Miamis in Ohio, Choctaw, Winnebagos, 4 Ojibways, Senecas -- a lot of people. He went and he took
5 this army, and he couldn't find anybody. So he burned
6 corn fields. It got cold and it got into the winter, and 7 the first snow, when his troops were lying on the ground, 8 just before daylight he surrounded this fort -- and there 9 is a big story for that. Just to make a long story short, 10 Sinclair lost more men than Harmer. The only thing that 11 saved Sinclair was that his horse fell on him in the mud,
12 and the mud covered him; otherwise, he would have been 13 gone, too. 14 They ran. Their whole outfit ran, and 15 they headed back east, and they were picked off all the 16 way back. It was a terrible, terrible defeat for the 17 United States. 18 That is why this belt is important.
19 They came to the Six Nations and they said, "Don't join 20 this." They said, "We've got a treaty. What are you 21 talking about? We have a treaty. We are bound. We will 22 make another one." George Washington commissioned this 23 belt to be made in 1774. This is his belt. It is called
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1 the Pickering Belt; it's called the George Washington Belt; 2 it's called the Canandagua Treaty. There are 13 colonies 3 on here -- you can count them -- representing the 13 states. 4 The two people here at the Longhouse, which is the country
5 itself, in the middle are President Washington and
6 Tudadaho(PH), the people of the United States and the 7 people of the Haudenosaunee in 1774. 8 What was it he said? Peace, friendship 9 for as long as the grass grows, for as long as the sun 10 rises and the water flows downhill. Where did we hear 11 that before?
12 They said, "We are going to give you an 13 annuity every year and we are going to give you cloth." 14 Every year up to this moment we get the annuity and we 15 get the cloth, because that is in force. When we had 16 trouble in the mountains with the Kanienkeha:ka, Article 17 7 of this treaty was used. It was initiated by the United 18 States government Department of Interior. They wrote to
19 us and said, "We will use Article 7." We said, "Fine." 20 It's contemporary; it is here. It is 21 here to be used. It is here for us. It's your treaty. 22 It belongs to you. It's for you to defend. It's for 23 you to keep. It's for your leadership to hold, because
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1 this treaty is only as good as the generation that is 2 holding it. 3 That's what we talk about. How strong 4 are you? How strong are your principles? What is
5 sovereignty? Sovereignty is the will that's in your heart
6 to exist; that's sovereignty. It's the will. 7 So here we are at a crux, not just us 8 but all people. We have people who want to gamble. We 9 have people who want to make a lot of money. They told 10 us in the beginning that earth is forever, and money is 11 like water in your fingers. It goes, and when it is gone,
12 what do you have? 13 It is not complicated. It is just a 14 matter of values. What are your values? These values 15 we still have. These values we still retain. 16 In this discussion with this Royal 17 Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, I would say that it is 18 fundamental that we go back to the genesis -- and I use
19 that word advisedly -- of the situation we are in here, 20 which has to be a moral question, not a political question, 21 a moral question. The moral question is: What right do 22 people have that come from another continent to come here 23 and just say by political fiction, "This is all mine?"
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1 Until we deal with that fundamental 2 question, we have problems, because we know better. We 3 know it's not yours. We know it belongs to us. We know 4 it belongs to the generations coming, and we don't accept.
5 In not accepting that, that means we challenge the basis
6 of that position. 7 To the credit of Canada, I must say they 8 have a Commission. That is to the credit. I am 9 encouraged; I am very, very encouraged and also encouraged 10 by who is sitting on there. You must be fair-minded and 11 you must be courageous and you must stick with the issues
12 and the principles. If we can do that, maybe we can find 13 some relief for our nations and our people. 14 We haven't learned yet any other way to 15 think. So what I say to the Royal Commission is that from 16 here we have the position of the Haudenosaunee which is 17 that the sovereignty comes indeed from the Creator that 18 made us and that the sovereignty comes from the nations
19 and the people, and that we don't accept any other idea 20 of sovereignty, other than that; and that we understand 21 the issues of equality, that all people are equal, all 22 life is equal; and that we want to work on these principles 23 of peace, justice, equity, the power of the good minds,
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1 the power to put your minds together in one common thought, 2 one heart, one mind. That power does everything, and you 3 survive. 4 I don't have much more to say other than
5 I hope they fix my car with a blown head gasket. We came
6 roaring in off Route 401 with the back end smoking to be 7 on time. I have no idea what the situation is. 8 Anyway, I want to encourage you and I 9 want to encourage the Commission to take these kinds of 10 issues because that's where it is. You can go through 11 the law books, and everyone can show you that, but that
12 is not where the question is. The question is beyond that. 13 Can we work from that position? We will give you our 14 utmost; we will help you. We will work with you. 15 The Human Rights Commission in Guyana 16 is taking place in June of this year. It's a major United 17 Nations Commission. We expect to have people there, and 18 this issue will come -- the issue of manifest destiny and
19 the law of nations, because that's where it is. 20 Donnato. 21 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: We are so
22 grateful for Chief Oren Lyons' input here this afternoon. 23 He certainly put words into our feelings this afternoon.
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1 We have a gentleman here, who has been 2 here since early this morning, a very patient man. We 3 know he is a patient man, and we are happy he is here with 4 us. We know our other brother, Jake Swamp, I don't think
5 will be here. As you know, there was an accident and there
6 was a young lady, I believe, who didn't make it. I think 7 it's his niece. So, unfortunately, we won't see Jake 8 today. 9 At this time I am very honoured and proud 10 to introduce a Bear Clan member, our very own Tom Porter, 11 to say a few words. He has a lot to offer, and he has
12 shared a lot with us over the years. I think it would 13 be our honour to have him share his thoughts with you 14 because he knows the value of what you are going to do 15 with this information. 16 I give you Tom Porter from Akwesasne. 17 TOM PORTER: First of all, I would like
18 to thank the speakers that were invited here from the Grand
19 River -- Chief Jake Thomas for his recital in relation 20 of the Great Law of Peace this morning. From his to give 21 a Reader's Digest of it is most miraculous to us in the 22 view that it takes 10 or 12 days in its normal procedure 23 to recite.
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1 The other one from the Council of the 2 Onondaga Nation, Oren Lyons, I would like to thank him, 3 and I am sorry his car blew its gasket. Maybe that means 4 he is supposed to stay here a little longer than he thought
5 he was going to be staying. It's a sign.
6 I would also like to acknowledge the 7 Royal Commission for stopping here in the land of the Mohawk 8 people in Akwesasne. I am glad to see that the combination 9 or the consistency of the Commission has a balance of mother 10 and father flavour, so that it might see in a very holistic 11 way.
12 I was thinking and listening quite 13 intently today. Also I have been thinking over the past 14 years about our situation today. Sometimes it's 15 encouraging and sometimes it's not so encouraging. 16 Sometimes you feel almost like there is no light at the 17 other end, and then sometimes you see the wonderful, 18 beautiful sun shining on a most radiant day like it is
19 today. 20 For myself and other Native people, it 21 varies the view that we see. 22 I am going to say, as I have said many 23 places before, that there is one document -- and I think
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1 it is called "How Democracy Came to St. Regis". It comes 2 from the Archives of Canada, the role that Canada in fact 3 had in the dissolving of the importance of these records 4 from the memories of the living Iroquois people, the actual
5 Acts that were formally given to different police agencies
6 in Canada in the last few decades to take these away from 7 the Iroquois in the hope that the Iroquois people of today 8 and tomorrow will not see them and, therefore, will not 9 hear the recitals of their significance and their historic 10 contents. 11 Some of these Wampums have been taken
12 away from us for many, many years, some over 100 years, 13 with that very thought in mind -- out of sight and they 14 would be no more. 15 I remember as a teenager I used to hear 16 our Faithkeepers and our Chiefs -- many of them are no 17 longer here today -- both from the Mohawks, the Onondagas 18 and all the other nations of the Iroquois. They used to
19 talk about getting these Wampum Belts back from the museums 20 in Canada and the United States. They used to tell us 21 the Mounties came and they just broke into people's houses 22 and confiscated them and took them so that we would lose 23 who we are and we wouldn't know which way to go. We
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1 wouldn't have an objective; we wouldn't have a focus; we 2 wouldn't have a goal. 3 I am going to be most truthful with you 4 -- and I don't know if I will get into trouble. It seems
5 every time the Mohawk Indian or any time the Iroquois people
6 talk about the truth, we always end up with lots of trouble 7 with the United States and Canada. Always it's the same 8 thing. I used to hear that honesty was the best policy, 9 but it seems to always lead us to trouble because people 10 aren't used to truth. People are really used to that; 11 it's only a mirage, I think you would call it.
12 But I am still going and I am still trying 13 to understand what makes this clock tick, of this society 14 we find ourselves in. 15 Before I pursue that one, I used to have 16 an uncle and I used to have some elders that were my 17 relatives. They used to say: Do you know that, if we were 18 to find out the truth and if we were to look at it and
19 view it for exactly what happened, if we were to add it 20 up on a scale or some kind of weighing machine about all 21 the things that have been directed to the Iroquois and 22 other Native people in the country -- and I am talking 23 about missionaries and I am talking about educational
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1 systems and I am talking about social programs and federal 2 programs and all those things. Those were all sort of 3 designed to keep us off the top shelf in terms of priority 4 stuff.
5 In fact, those Elders said in the world
6 they have what they call the Seven Wonders of the World. 7 Niagara Falls, I believe, is one of those Seven Wonders 8 of the World. Our Elders said, "When you finish looking 9 at the history of the perpetuation and the orchestration 10 of the destruction of the Native people systematically, 11 and so forth, we are by logic and by practicalness not
12 supposed to be here. There is not supposed to be any 13 Cornwall Island here today. There is supposed to be no 14 more Ojibway anywhere; there aren't supposed to be any 15 Dakotas anywhere. That was the plan. They called it the 16 100-year plan, that by this time there would be no more 17 Indian country." 18 Almost it was going to go that way except
19 that we had some grandmas and some grandpas who had heads 20 that were thicker than the most solid rocks you can find 21 in North America, and they just said, "We're not going 22 to let go of what the Creator told us. We're not going 23 to give up. We're not going to forget. We don't care
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1 what comes; we're going to stick to it." So they did. 2 Because they did, that is why we have 3 a territory here and we still have a place here to call 4 our homes. We still hear people talking in Mohawk. We
5 can still hear people saying, "I belong to this clan" or
6 "I belong to that clan." We can still hear people talking 7 about the sacred things that the Creator gave to us -- 8 only because of those grandmas and grandpas who had heads 9 that were stubborn and thick as stone. I would take my 10 hat off, if I had a hat on, and salute them to the fullest, 11 because they are the ones who gave me what little identity
12 I am so proud of today. Most of them are gone now. 13 Now the most dangerous thing is at hand. 14 We are not afraid of Canada too much. Canada is just 15 a baby country. The United States -- we're not too afraid 16 of them; they're just babies, too. And I was never afraid 17 of Russia; I don't care what the United States or Canada 18 said. And it came to be true. There was nothing to be
19 afraid of in Russia; it was just a mirage. It was just 20 a bogey man story. Look at it now. They're hungry. 21 So the realities have never been told 22 the right way. That's why I want to thank Jake Thomas 23 this morning. I am not either to say, "Well, I am an
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1 Indian, so I am going to say, like Hitler, that we are 2 the superior group in the world. I am not going to say 3 that. But what Jake was talking about this morning, the 4 Great Law, our ancestors were cannibals at one time, and
5 those cannibals were in my great-great-great-great
6 grandfathers and they were relatives to me. That was a 7 fact, so that is why I have to tell my kids that we were 8 cannibals at one time. 9 We had war and violence at one time 10 because we didn't know any better at one time. But when 11 the Peace Prophet came, we embraced the great peace and
12 we abandoned those ways of cannibalism and war, and we 13 changed course to a more humane structure and system. 14 That's what we did. That's my trail -- truth. 15 When I write my book, I don't just wave 16 my flag and say my path and my journey don't have any 17 blemishes, that there is no blood on my trail. Yes, I 18 want my kids to see the blood so that they will know never
19 to do that again, and that is the merit of truth in the 20 history. So I would like to thank Jake for saying that 21 this morning. 22 But the Mohawks are here yet and the 23 Senecas are here yet, and so on. We might be wounded and
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1 we might be scarred as all can be, but we are kicking yet 2 and we are breathing yet. 3 I don't know how come, but I had a nephew 4 yesterday. He's a young guy; he doesn't even have any
5 children yet. He did an analytical talk, a short one,
6 but it was dynamite. He had this little thing like this, 7 and this is what he said to me -- and this bears some kind 8 of recognition and acknowledgement. 9 In our whole existence what is left today 10 that has represented us, this. He says: But where we 11 find ourselves in the situation of the real world -- here
12 we are. Here is Canada and the United States, they have 13 got us like this. You can't even see us. Only whenever 14 Canada and United States wants to do like this once in 15 a while then you can see it. That is what that young guy 16 told me just yesterday. He says that is how they got us, 17 just like this, and they can kill us if they wanted to. 18 They tried it before.
19 But only one thing, the God and the 20 Creator -- he always loved us, that is why we are still 21 here. That is why we are part of the miracle like the 22 Niagara Falls, and still here. He said, this young guy, 23 what we have got to do is concentrate on ourselves. We
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1 have got to reinstitute our spiritualness the way it was, 2 the way the Creator made us before Canada, before the United 3 States was here. 4 We have got to reinstill our clans in
5 our everyday and believe in it so that grandmothers can
6 raise the proper leaders again and that values of 7 spiritualness, foundation will be what we judge our next 8 decisions upon. 9 We have to concentrate on finding the 10 strength in re-energizing our own self and you do that 11 by following clans and believing in the clans. You do
12 that in speaking your language. You do that by making 13 sure the new year ceremonies is filled up -- the harvest 14 time ceremonies are filled up. 15 When we do that, the God, the Creator 16 is going to re-energize and then those people who hold 17 us like this slowly open up their hand and liberation and 18 the freedom comes again. But, it must be done in a
19 spiritual way; not with bombs, not with army tanks but 20 with sacred tobacco and sacred teachings. That is more 21 powerful than anything else ever was. Then the prophecy 22 will come to be that our Elders said: One day will come 23 when our grandchildren will speak to the world and the
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1 world is going to listen. 2 When the air touches our sole again and 3 finds us back to the original of what our original teachings 4 is suppose to be. But, what is going on now all over the
5 world, in the country and even in Indian country is a lot
6 of b.s. going on. Lots of superficial is going on and 7 it all tends to make a mist in the cloud to liberate our 8 people in the truest sense. 9 So that is the way that young man said 10 and I thought that he was analytically, politically 11 speaking right on. Because he was a young Mohawk guy --
12 ghee I said: You mean we have great thinkers like that. 13 Watch out, suppressors of the world, because the next 14 generation is coming. With all of the camouflage and the 15 confusion and the obstacles that were laid before us in 16 our journey, this young man was able to see through it 17 all and there is more coming. 18 So that is why it is in the interest of
19 Canada and the United States government officials -- advise 20 them. Don't be afraid of the truth. Let's go back and 21 renew all of these things like it was yesterday made. 22 It said: As long as the sun shines and the river is going 23 and the grass is growing, that is how much and how good
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1 and strong these will be. 2 But, if Canada and United States does 3 not believe that and want to pursue that in a spiritual 4 and truthful way then we must deal with Mr. Frankenstein
5 tomorrow. I don't know Frankenstein ways. I don't know
6 what that is, how it works or how it responds. Me, I step 7 back. Frankenstein and Frankenstein, go ahead and fight. 8 Let me go over there until you finish your foolishness 9 and then we will resume the human way of truth. 10 So that is what I have got to say. But 11 another old grandmother, just last week -- she is 92 years
12 old -- she said: Don't ever go around the bush, don't 13 ever go around the bush, she said, in your diplomacy. 14 It is good to be diplomatic but don't make it diplomatic 15 so much that you don't even know what you are doing. She 16 says, don't forget when you talk to Canada and United States 17 that this is our country. They are the visitors and you 18 always let them know that they better behave themselves
19 because the Creator is the big one who is going to be the 20 judge pretty soon. 21 That 92 grandmother said that just the 22 other day. She says: Tell it always. Renew those things 23 because when our grandfathers open the door so they can
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1 plant the corn, the Dutch, the English, the French, they 2 did it from the kindness of their hearts so they to can 3 feed their kids like we want to feed our kids. 4 Who laid the red carpet out? We must
5 maintain the red carpet and keep it clean so that we can
6 always feel good and welcome with each other. 7 Anyways, those are the few thoughts that 8 I had. Mostly, mostly to my own people. I am not really 9 too concerned about Canada to much or the United States. 10 I am more concerned about the Mohawk Indian women and 11 Mohawk Indian men. I am more concerned about all of those
12 little kids and all of the grades that came in here, in 13 and out today. 14 When they start saying: I belong to the 15 Bear Clan, I belong to the Snake Clan, I belong to the 16 Wolf Clan. When I start hearing Mohawk language every 17 little while and everyday pretty soon that they think it 18 is important, that is the one that brings the liberation.
19 Whatever that is, the sovereignty, that is what it will 20 bring. When they, our own people, believe who we are. 21 Because through all of the history, 22 through the smallpox, the typhoid fevers, the infected 23 blankets that George Washington gave to us and anybody
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1 else, we shouldn't be here by rights. We should be like 2 the dinosaur, extinct. But because the Creator never 3 abandoned us through it all that is why we are survivors 4 and we will be here again, tomorrow again and we will have
5 a better life tomorrow again.
6 As soon as we can manage to get rid of 7 this confusion that has been thrown on us, we know are 8 going to be something again. It will stand up one more 9 time. That is what the old people said. That tree that 10 has fallen down, it will stand up one more time and then 11 it is going to feel good.
12 So that is why, to all of you 13 commissioners here, in your search to find out what is 14 what, all I can say to you is: I am glad to meet you today 15 and that tomorrow our young guys and young girls -- they 16 are going to be more clear and every time it gets more 17 clear of our identify, who we are, the more comfortable 18 we are going to be and the louder we are going to speak
19 and the world will listen. We just began. 20 I thank you for your kindness. Thank 21 you for coming. 22 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: We appreciate
23 Tom Porter's time with us. It is always so nice to hear
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1 a man speak from the heart like he does. 2 Let's take a few minutes break and 3 stretch our legs. We will have some more talks and then 4 the children will be coming later. Let's walk around a
5 little bit and do some chatting.
6 Thank you. 7 --- Short Recess at 3:32 p.m. 8 --- Upon resuming at 3:55 p.m. 9 FACILITATOR ALMA RANSOM: At this time
10 I would like to present our very own Ernie Benedict, who 11 has extensive experience with work in Native culture.
12 He has worked at the Trent University in the beginning 13 of Trent. The North American Indian Travelling College, 14 the inception of North American Indian Travelling College 15 as you see it today, along with Mike Mitchell. These two 16 gentlemen really have come a long way with those ideas 17 about our own background. 18 I would like to give you Ernie at this
19 time just to finish and polish off what we have heard all 20 day -- put it all together for us. He needs no prompting 21 or coaching. He know this stuff very well along with Mike. 22 I give you Ernie Benedict. 23 ERNIE BENEDICT: Good afternoon,
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1 Members of the Royal Commission and all those who have 2 decided to stay. 3 I am very impressed with the 4 presentations that have already come about. I believe
5 some points that may need a few more words, especially
6 to clarify in our own minds, in relation to these concerns 7 that have already been expressed. 8 One of those points that I had hoped to 9 deal with was a mission that was seen by our forefathers 10 in the implementing of these rules and the idea of peace. 11 One of my friends recently wrote about
12 the dynamics of peace that were used by the Mohawk people. 13 In the course of history there was this time of trouble 14 in our own ancient living space down in the Mohawk valley 15 and a large section of the people of those valley 16 settlements moved and found those old pathways, north up 17 through the Adirondac Mountains, alongside Lake Champlain 18 and up into the area of the St. Lawrence Valley.
19 At some place they had also remembered 20 that there was a place called Akwesasne. Some who haven't 21 gone as far as Kahnawake decided to come upstream on the 22 River St. Lawrence and they settled at Akwesasne. While 23 they were still building this community there were large
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1 numbers of voyagers on the St. Lawrence River also 2 travelling up and down, perhaps fur trading, perhaps in 3 the interest of the exporters, sometime they were in the 4 fur trade business.
5 Soon our little community became the
6 host of the main part of the pathway into what is Canada's 7 interior and northern New York State. It was part of the 8 ancient lands of the Haudenosaunee, the Iroquois. 9 On the road up from the Mohawk Valley 10 and because of all of the various influences that came 11 with all of the voyagers, the missionaries, the traders,
12 there was a large part of the political structure that 13 was left behind in the Mohawk valley and they had to rebuild 14 their own here. 15 They made some concessions to some of 16 the ways that the Europeans had. They give more importance 17 to the men but they kept the clan membership alive and 18 the high place that the women had in their society was
19 also maintained. Their council, however, made a change 20 and rather than having the nine chiefs in the local Mohawk 21 council there was a change to twelve and the idea of 22 chieftainship started up. 23 It was the idea of the good man. The
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1 Luiana (PH) had been sort of forgotten and sort of tarnished 2 and the chief idea had come in perhaps from some other 3 Native nations but probably and very likely from the 4 European ideas. So because of that the men did not consult
5 with the people as much as they should have and made many
6 concessions of land, of rights and even of their loyalties. 7 So it was that their young men joined 8 in with the conflicts that went through and this was one 9 of the main streets or the conduits of those early conflicts 10 between the settlers of Canada and the armed people of 11 the United States.
12 So along the river there have been many 13 of those incidents and some armed camps that were 14 established in the early times. Even our village of St. 15 Regis was also, for a while, occupied by a British force. 16 Further up the river another armed camp which was called 17 a mission also had been established. 18 Our Mohawk people from here participated
19 and even in some of the conflicts that arose participated. 20 There were other of the Iroquois nations had gathered 21 there also. When they landed, the land buyers took over 22 all of the northern part of New York State. The people 23 at Ogdensberg or La Présentation found themselves without
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1 a place to live. They had been forced out of their homes 2 and they sought refuge here at St. Regis Akwesasne. 3 Some of our families are descents of 4 those who have come from those refugee areas. But these
5 were our own Iroquois people so they were welcomed and
6 became part of our own community. There were others who 7 came also as refugees. 8 Many white people who had encountered 9 much disaster and maybe sickness on their journey up the 10 rivers to their own new home sites, they also took refuge 11 here at St. Regis sometimes or nursed back to health.
12 Sometimes they stayed and became part of our community. 13 Then the epidemic came. Many of our own 14 people were laidened and were victims of the epidemics. 15 They were, many times, brought down to only a few hundred 16 to populate our community. So our homes were also 17 welcoming the strangers who came either by boat or through 18 the bush trails to this place and also were welcomed.
19 At the same time, also, the explorers who were going deeper 20 into Canada stopped here and took on new people. 21 So our influence has scattered so that 22 some of our people have family and relatives who have 23 scattered throughout Canada and even into the Yukon you
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1 may find names that had originated here at Akwesasne. 2 This community has had much contact for 3 a long period of time with other of the civilizations that 4 have come in and it has been a very hard struggle to maintain
5 our own identity during this time.
6 Again, I am reminded that the former 7 speakers have said that it was a thing of wonder that our 8 identity, our language has been preserved, our family 9 structures have survived during this long period of time. 10 More than 200 years, perhaps 250 years of contact and 11 constant contact.
12 We have survived the land buyers within 13 our own community and we have been able to retain some 14 of the land that once originally had been lost. Some of 15 the land has recently been taken by the great mega project, 16 the St. Lawrence Seaway and some of that land has been 17 returned. But it is still a great source of very 18 much discontent that I see that during those times when
19 we had to negotiate with the Canadian government and the 20 St. Lawrence Seaway. They were using engineering drawing 21 and engineering plans to counter the treaty rights that 22 we had. Where is the law in which an engineering drawing 23 can supersede a treaty? Where in the law of nations is
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1 it allowed that and Order in Council which comes from the 2 Prime Minister and his Cabinet can override an active 3 Parliament? 4 I believe that many of our own troubles
5 are also the troubles of Canada and Canadian law. I think
6 that maybe if Canada can get its own laws and its own act 7 together in regard to the law perhaps now we can probably 8 make it easier for us to get our own act together here 9 at Akwesasne. 10 That is all I have to say. Thank you. 11 GRAND CHIEF MIKE MITCHELL: I just want
12 to take a few minutes of your time to go over tomorrow
19 -- I think it was Friday -- grades four and six. They 20 want to make a presentation. I had an opportunity to 21 listen for a while before I decided. The teachers weren't 22 sure whether this group should be heard. It didn't take 23 me long to be convinced that in the next 20 years that
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1 they are going to be our chiefs, our leaders. 2 Their views of Akwesasne and Canada, the 3 environment, drugs, border crossing, everything. The way 4 they understand it, I think, is important for you to hear.
5 I would encourage you to ask questions at the end of each
6 presentation. 7 We also want to point out the dilemma 8 of being a Mohawk in Akwesasne, of having to contend with 9 five outside jurisdictions on a daily basis. 10 We also have a presentation by the 11 Akwesasne Mohawk Police Force and the Justice Department
12 who try to attempt law and order in Akwesasne. The idea 13 of the courts in Quebec and the courts in Ontario being 14 so drastically different and the confusion depending on 15 where you are arrested and go to trial or New York State. 16 Needless to say, for Mohawk in Akwesasne this is a constant 17 daily type of living. 18 It is those people that want to come
19 forward tomorrow from the community, our Elders, people 20 who are in the community, people who are in charge of 21 programs. 22 We have a full schedule tomorrow. We 23 would like to start promptly at 9:00 o'clock to allow an
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1 opportunity for all of them to be heard. I did not want 2 to say no to anybody. 3 So I think today has been a good start. 4 I recognize how tired some of you are from having these
5 hearings.
6 We also are doing a presentation on 7 border crossing as we understand it and we have some other 8 leaders who are going to help us with that presentation. 9 As I understand it, the Royal Commission 10 -- without having ever read any material on your terms 11 of reference -- but how do I explain to our Elders when
12 they ask me: Who are these people and what are they doing? 13 You tell me if I am way far off base, but I said these 14 people are mandated to go out to our communities and to 15 listen and try to understand -- attempt to understand how 16 we view things, law and history and culture and what is 17 important to us, passing justice and a vision for future. 18 It is those things that Canada does not
19 understand and many times we have had conflict. If it 20 can be corrected then it is those people who sit on there 21 that will listen. We get an opportunity to speak our minds 22 about past and in the future. 23 Simply put -- and tonight I am going to
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1 read your documents and see how far off I may be -- but 2 simply put that is how we have been explaining to people 3 in Akwesasne. 4 So that is the agenda for tomorrow and
5 there is lots more. Don't think there isn't drug problems
6 here in Akwesasne. It is not just contained in the north 7 and the people who want to step forward and talk about 8 those kinds of things, domestic violence. If they wish, 9 they will speak tomorrow. 10 So having a full day tomorrow, I want 11 to let you go. I had planned to have this go to 5:00,
12 but there is a dinner and I would like you to be able to 13 be rested for tomorrow. Visit with us. 14 We have some students who want to do the 15 closing with some people from the Travelling College, and 16 I think we will leave it as much done for today. 17 (Closing Ceremony) 18 GRAND CHIEF MIKE MITCHELL: One of the
19 requirements of being a leader here in Akwesasne is you 20 have to be jack-of-all-trades sometimes. Elder Ernest 21 has just asked me to do the closing. 22 I guess that is going to be as far as 23 we go today. With that we will close the way we opened,
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1 with thanks, giving greeting to one another. 2 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 4:26 p.m. 3 to resume at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 4 May 4, 1993.
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